The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-02-13

f0llage. lie OhuS OF me orange trees
are swelling into blossom for new
fruitage. The magnolia tree, which is |
abundant, will soon open its beautiful
and fragrant blossom. Such, and a |
great deal more, is Jacksonville, |
Fla, in the dead of our winter. The
moral of it all you can draw as well as
L But l cannot refrain from saying,
that it seems to me people who have
reached our age, and who, if they have
not yet, ought to have laid down the
labors of life, will find the river of life
thus broadening out in the eternal sum-
mer seas-fowing much more peace
fullyaand pleasantly to its exit here
than amid the frosts and SHOWS of our
latitude. All of which m ans-if it
means anvthing-that Florida is good
place to die in, if it is not to lice in,
and / think old age and broken down
energies are much less taxed and
strained in this climate than in ours,
and corresponding comforts ENJOYED
My brief experience in this depth of
winter leads me to think it is Just the
place for such as you and I, whose
aoork in this world is, or ought to be
finished, and whose years demand re-
pose.
And discover the average FIoridian
IS always ready to make AN affidavit
that it is the most delightful summer
climate on earth. and no one can know
how much it is like Paradise until he
has summered over two or three years.
He is ready to prove to you hat it is
actually warmer up our way than
down here, and that there are always
modifying circumstances to the heat
here that we don't have-that the
nights are cool and the days breezy,
and, upon the whole. it is quite delight
| full. Perhaps it is SO. At all evems,
think such as we are, if we were
Obliged to do it, could stand the strain
of the Florida summer sun better than
we can our winters frost. But prOba-
bly, the best mode is to spend the win
tiers here and the summers there, a
| thing which our railroads at present
enable us to do with comfort and with
out fatigue; and if not DIS cheaply as
they ought to. and will some day, at
least at a figure that is endurable.
And speaking of the comfort and speed
with which we can come it is marvel
Gus. One change of cars at Cincinnati
from Chicago here is all required,
and a well ordered lunch basket, or
their dining cars, make it even unnec-
esSary to get out for meals. We left
Cincinnati in the midst of ice, snow,
frost and biting winds, and in a few
brief hours passed in comfort, again
struck e2rh-amiI summer foliage and
under summer suns. | can likeu it to
nothing except to that tabled tapestry
or that wooden horse with the wooden
peg told of in our Arabian Nights,
that transported the passenger on his
slightest wish, with the speed of
thought, any where-every where. In
that good time coming when The peo-
pie shall own the railroads and trans
port passengers and freight, as letters
and small packages are now transmit
ted. the moneys which go to make for
tunes of two hundred millions more or
less for the Vanderbi!ts and Others
will be resolved into cheap fares
when the great muItitudes, now UNI
able TO travel, will be put in motion
will be brought face to face, and heart
to heart. each with all-and the rail
road trains flying back and forth as a
weaver's shuttle shall weave us all in
to q beautiful fabric of universal
brotherhood. 1t is c0ming-sure as
shootin'.
i The soil of Jacksonville is apparent
| ly much like that of KenOsha. The
streets, like the early streets of Keno
sha, are about three inches of loose
sand. There is not yard of paved
street or grayeled street In the CITY.
The streets are broad; the lots are of
generous size, being 105 it, square.
Some lots, of course, have more than
one house on them, bnt many houses
have this large frontage OF ground.
| The soil seems to yield pretty general
| ly, and trees, foliage and flowers
abound everywhere, There are many
quite handsome business blocks.
Hotels and lodging and boarding
houses are everywhere. and living for
strangers can be had any where frop
81 to SIS day. We have two com
Portable rooms, eiigibly and pleasantly
located, for which we pay S. per week
We have a couple of alcohol stoves.
each less than an ordinary tin cup in
size, with which we cook our own
breakfast. This is economical, and has
the additional merit of giving us one
genuine home meal per day. Our
other mealS-Whch we SIT little store
by--we skirmish round and get where
we please. Restaurants furnish what
they call regular meals at from % To
35 cents each.
L have seen as yet nothing of Flori-
da but Jacksonville, and not much of
thai. But l Can draw an inference,
and as the other day | had to tell !,
darkey who had been here five years
something about the streets he did not
know, so | think [ could tell the
average Cracker" more about his
state and city than he knows him self
A man up tree cIn see more than one
on the ground
Jacksonville has been made mainly
since the war and. all the life tn ere is
in the state, which is considerable, has
been infused since the war; Florida
has perhaps more WORT. less surface IN
its boundaries than any other state of
the Union. But then it has a great
deal not worthless, and that is being
gradually utilized. Northern men are
Overrunning it, and dong all sorts of
things-planting orange groves. laying
out towns, building railroads, running
steamboats,, and, in harmony with the
universal Yankee character, each IS
! blowing his own horn, with the per-
!. sistent purpose of out-bIowing mis-
neighbor and rival. We knew of all
this in the early history of Wisconsin,
as it is part of the early history of
every place and country. 1t is the
time of mist and fog, and speculation
and uncertainty. Nothing has a set
tied value nor Il fixed basis. The land
is divided into sharpS and flats, and the
sharps swallow the flats of course.
The "orange grove" business is the
great charm of the Northern fiat, as
the embarrassing business was for the
Eastern fiat who came early to Wiscon-