Morning journal and courier., 1885-08-12

lawaha-IncIdents of the Voyage
 Some Terrible Puns-The Silver
 Sprfng-A Novel Night Scene-Flor1da
 lnsects-Eust1s.
 EUsTIs, Fla. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 ssShine, bosss" Now under ordinary cir cumstances there could be no labor more su- perfuous than that expended in blacking mans boots in Florida. The sand is so deep, so fine and so ubiquitous that you might take a polish at every street-crossing and still creae thet impression that you had base ball shoes on by reason of the coating of sand Florida sand is the smallest kind of sand. But we were about to take passage from Pslatka on the Ocklawaha steamer "Osceola" for the two days trip to Silver Spring and return; so on this particular oc casion we concluded to patronize the speak CT. My companion, a young man who had been travelling in eastern Russia for the last year, placed his foot upon the block of the bootblack while waited my turn Present ly an urchin spied us from a short distance up the wharf and came down to relieve me of the task of waiting. I availed myself of the fellows services, which disgruntled ur-
 
 upon both jobs. Out of the controversy grew emulation in the matter of imparting a shine to our shoes; and taking up the rivalry we offered an extra nickel to the boy that succeeded in making the better polish. Both boys worked away with will and the result was two pairs of shoes that shone like cleo tric headlights-or more properly footlights. A gentleman on the wharf decided that my shine was the most artistic, and I cheerfully surrendered the promised nickel.
 .'Now let's walk down the wharf," I sug- gested, ''to where that group of bootblacks is awaiting the arrival of the morning steam er It won't hurt our polish at all on the planking. You see I have theory that a boetblack was never known to let anyone pass by, however bright and clean his shoes, without soliciting the chance to administer shine Let's see how it will work here." So we walked down to the De Barry steamboat pier. As I sauntered along little in ad vance of my companion wicked little imp spied me, and approaching with almost scornful mien remarked: ''Oh, do have them cleaned up little, sahI' The consum- mate audacity of the little rascal quite took my breath away for moment, and I didn't know but that I must be mistaken about having had so recent a shine. As soon as l could recover mental equilibrium we beat Q nasty retreat and sought refuge in our steam CT. At ten o'clock the puny stern recess wheel of the Osceola began churning the ter and soon the rising walls of the imposing new Palatka. called the Phoenix city of Flor ida since the dreadful confagration of last winter, disappeared slowly behind bend in the great St. Johns river. At this late day do not need to say that the Osceola is pc culiarly built river steamer, twenty-two feet the trip up the romantic wilds of the Ock- lawaha But shall merely take advantage of the trip to recount some incidental expe- rienees, which may not always be written down in g letter on the same general subject.
 At dinner we were thrown next to the cap tain Now didn't have any grudge against that 1ong-sufering official, but did ask some questions which knew had been asked about fourteen thousand times before. If he didn't want to answer them it was his own fault, because he might issue a pamphlet with answers to several hundred of the ster- eotyped questions which the innocent tourist is in the habit of asking, and then thrust this document into the hand of anyone whose mouth he might see beginning to open. But he was apparently willing to talk and grati- fed ny thirst for knowledge with all cour- teeyi ~ t,o oo,,o,u.,o ,uo,,,o,. ,oou this seasong'' asked. "Better than ever be- we ran daily boats each way and often had them overfull You know the Osceola has twenty-fou berths. Well, have carried as high ss ffty-six frst-class passengers this winter at single time. Some were provided with mattresses on the cabin floor, and some even sat around all night In chairs or walked the deck. We have only eighteen on board now, but that is large number, for the sea- son is quite over. We are running once week now, and we have never run oftener than once in two weeks in the summer before this year"
 need not say that this has been the expe- rience of nearly all the agencies employed in catering to the accommodation of Florida tourists during the past season. In the one little hotel at Astor on the St. Johns twenty or thirty persons used to sit up each night for lack of sleeping accommodations. Many of the hotels are now engaS aSed in enlarging. After. dinner I went below and wondered where they slowed all the good things that we had just been eating. There seemed to be scarcely any spare room, and yet we had our ice cream and pie and pudding and other delicacies for dessert just as if we had been on the largest Cunarder. Down below I found some jolly dsrkey deck-hands and was much amused by their antics, which were more like those of the professional minstrel than anything else of the kind that I have yet witnessed in the South. One fellow was asleep on the convex surfaces of two barrels. Another stole up and buttoned his shirt around his neck, which was left unbuttoned because the wearer's neck had outgrown the