, 1884-04-26
FLORIDA A PARADISE
For Thrifty, Fore Handed Whites
and Lazy, Contented Blacks.
A sort and Uniform Climate During
the Greater Part of the
Year---The Land
OF No Mud.


I would not advise a poor man to come
here expecting great things either of the
climate or Of the soil. l would not
myself settle ia Florida unless / had
at least a few hundred dollars in
hand. Yet some of the best und most sue
cessful fruit and vegetable growers came
here, in Alaehua county, with only a
few dimes IN their pockets. OF course,
this necessities "A lonely life for
the first year or two, and very hard work;
yet everybody is %ncighborly, aud disposed to
lend a helping and The example of a
thrifty German, who is now building here,
is much to he commended. He came
here with n little moncy-perhaps
not over S1OO-selected his land,
went home, worked and saved
for three years till he had laid up II few hun
dfed dollars, and now lie has returned with
his family, his house is rapidly going up,
while his wife aud children are well sheltered,
and he bids fair to become n prosperous
landowner and farmer. For such men
Florida soon becomes Il paradise
success attends them-they keep before.
hauded'-a seasons blight docs not unnervs
thcm-they find plenty To do at their va
rious tTudcs-their wives aud children help
them in many ways, aud they grow rich In a
few years, particularly II they can afford at
the outset 10 plant AN orange grove, and
care for it as it, needs demand.
The climate Of Florida is, for the greater
part OF the year, unequaled for softness and
uniformity, There i. cold weather-therc
are frosts, hut the cold is pleasant and ensily
endured, for even then one can go out with
no additional wraps and not suffer. 1t is u
pleasant, bracing, healthy atmosphere, un.
accompanied by snow, ice or slush. Even
after our heavy rains there Is no mud-the
soil generously imbibing all the moisture, so
that after a shower one does not wet the sole
OF the shoe in goin out OF doors.
But it is not so much of these character
istics Of the country | wish TO write as of the
picturesque and purely human. The element
of color here is a distinct study in itself, and
differs widely from the same phase OF human
ity in the middle and northern states. Most
Of the blacks | have seen are much like Bret
Harte's Heather Chinee' of the childllke
and bland type, indicated in the poem. They
have the appearance of utter innocence and
the most blissful ignorance. They 'd'no this
and dino that, but they do know how to
draw the dimes from your pocket to theirs,
and their varied devices indicate that they
make it the study OF their lives TO secure the
greatest possible returns for the smallest pos
sible fayors. They are lazy and con-
tented. Their l~og-cabins redden, morning
and night, with fires of the pitch-pine with
which the woods abound; their small patches
Of land yield them cotton, corn and bananas.
Some Of them are the fortunate possessors of
a few ten or twenty year old orange trees,
and, in such a case, they will work for no
one. The pig that roots round the cabin
door, and is, indeed, one of the family, will,
In time, supply them with pork and bacon
and IA few roasts. There are 'possums in the
woods, wild duck and trout to be had at the
lakes, and what little silver they gather from