The Home advocate. (Farmerville, La.) 1885-1???, 1885-03-27
Sucked err or Oranges.

Geo w. Peck, editor, Is rs,
now sojou'niDg III Florida in search
OF health and strength. When |
threw up the curtaia my first
morning in Jacksonville" he
writes, .'and looked ont in the
! park in front Of the hotel and saw
green trees OF all kinds, orange
trees filled with ripe, yellow fruit,
shade trees outside the walks with
oranges on, and ladies with para
! sols, | began to look around for
the South pole. l wanted 70 go
and roll on the grass. Iwent down
stairs without waiting for any ele-
vator, rushed through the office,
forgetting all about breakfast, and
! began to walk about the park and
the town. The oranges didn' t
look right to me. I couldn't SEQ
how they could grow there in the
streets, right within reach of every
little niger coon in town. without
being stolen. In the North the
sourest crabapple that ever broke
a mans jaw or puckered up a
pretty mouth wou.d not be SAFE a
moment as exposed as those
oranges were, and could not be-
lieve that boys in the South were
more honest than boys in the
North. Then l got to thinking
and made up my mind that tie
oranges we're tied On the trees
with pieces Of wire and were in.
tended to deceive Northern peo-
pie. I though b, it WAS a mean de.
ception and | made III my mind to
expose it to the world. / asked q
colored man if there was any OBJ
lection to man picking an
orange, and he said he reckoned
not, so / reached up and got hold
of one and picked it. l looked for
the wire or string, bnt it was act
aally a growing orange, and ] had
more faith in Florida than ever. /
shall always believe that the col
ored man smiled when he saw me
take ont my knife and cut a piece
out Of that orange. Anyway, he
turned his back when started the
piece Of orange towards my mouth.
Many OF my readers will remem Der
my mouth, as it was When ] lived
at the NORTH. Il was a pretty de-
cent sort OF mouth to Stub around
home with. A plain, every day
sort Of a hole, with teeth and
tongue and lips, when l took TIA,
piece OF orange in. Ys gods! The
orange was as much sourer than
vinegar as vinegar is sourer thar
honey. And bitter! Aloes and
rhubarb and quinn. combined
would be molasses beside that
orange. My lips began to curl up
and draw around under my left
ear, my teeth became loose and
ratified around like dice iD dice
box and my tongue Glove to tho
roof Of my mouth. One eye open-
ed SO wide that the eyeball looked
like the face of six-shilliDg bulls
eye watch, and the other eye closed
systematically and winked so a
colOred nurse g,rl who thought ] |
was wiukins 1t her got up of a
bench and hauled the baby wagon
away, while the baby cried as
though a pin was sticking in it, Cd
account OF the expression on my
face. l reached around to my pis-
tOl pocket for a handkerchief to
cover my face until l could uDscrew
my mouth and get it back in front
Of me, and the colored man thought
l was going to draw a pistol, and
he started off on a run. Well, if l !
had a picture of nv face when / |
took mouthful Of that orange,
they could sell them by the thou
sands in dime museums as the |
Wild man of B0rneo. And that is |
the reason oranges are safe grow.
ing in the streets. They are too
sour to eat, and a boy will not