The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-03-28
Letter from Florida.
lorrespondence Of DIE pcnocratlc ADVOCATE. ]
ORANGE LAKE. March 20. 1885.

ORANGE LAKE, March 20, 1885.
MEssRs. EDIToRs.-As it has been quite
long time since / wrote you note, thought ]
would occupy a few moments this afternoon
In writing you from our Land of Flowers; and
as | have read in number of papers extracts
from a letter in the Louisville Courier Journal
written by Mr.. Thompson, of Mississippi,
would like to tell you what | think of some of
his statements, but to make preface as it
we're, will say that | am not little George
Washington, and could tell lief were to
| try right hard. Some men say they can't tell
! a lie. and right under that sentence say they
lost 60 pounds of flesh and muscle in thirty
days. That would be equal to one gourd
seed spreading its vines over one-half acre of
ground and bearing two thousand gourds. |
think the latter is nearer to a little Geo. w.
| From Mr.. T. letter ] would Judge that he
did not own foot of land in Florida, unless
| it were free pass over some public highway.
In regard to his statement of the healthfulness
of this country, / know several of his state
ments to be not exactly correct. BE speaks
of the chills and fever of Florida as if he came
from some isolated section away up in Cana
da, and only to think, he came from Missis
| sippi. If a doctor wishes to starve to death
let him come to Florida and depend upon his
practice for a livelihood, unless it be to adj
minister unto Northern invalids. | can get
the statement of the physician who has all the
practice of this community that for the past
year his books did not show but 5000. Go
and ask our family physician what our bill is
per annum for the family in old Carroll. Ny
brother came down here last fall, packed
oranges during the season, and since has been
working with me, hoeing, blowing, and has
spent some of his time clearing up hammock.
He has worked 50 per cent of the time since
/ L. bar nd hoe baf he, bod 6xTc
pepsia. Now he does not know what it is to
] have sour stomach and weighs fifteen pounds
i more than when he came down; and if you
/ don't believe it, he can call at your Office
some time next month and bear an examina-
ton AS to consumption, | have never heard
of it here, except it be some hungry mans
Consumption for meat and bread; and /
know of no better place for good appetite
than Florida. Probably Mr.. It's board cost
him ST or $1.50 per day. If it did, think he
must be an enormous eater. Our best beef
costs us 10 cents per pound, and | defy Car
roll or any other county in Maryland to pro-
duce better piece of beef than we had on
our table for dinner, and it was killed off the
range. How is it that Mr.. I. S rations alone
cost him 81 or $3.50 per day? Our hands
board themselves at from 81 to $3.50 per
week, and they must eat something, for
work them right lively all day; but you see
don't live In Leesburg, but 90 miles north OF
it, where my garden has furnished me vege
tables ever since last November, and | now
have as fine patch of strawberries as ever
graced ''sand bank in Maryland.
have not the time or you the space to say
anything about his statement of the manner
of procuring lands. | bought a ten-acr lot
last spring and raise enough vegetables and
provisions generally to keep any table. A
man may live on canned goods down here,
but he must be the LATEST man on the top
side of God S green earth; for laziness is all
there is to prevent a man from growing vege
tables in this, the most genial soil on earth.
| would say in regard to the right of way for
a railroad, if man is too mean and stands so
much in his own light as not to allow a rail-
road to pass through his property, they ought
to go through, if necessary, his back kitchen.
As to 'sland sharks have nothing to say
except every man is responsible for the trade
he may make.
'Let people who live in the Middle States
beware of this Florida craze, for all this lying
about Florida's being an earthly Eden" and
come down and see where men do live with
less labor and enjoy more luxuries for the
least money, and have better health Ethan
any other country in the world. y
Very truly yours, W. NJ. GIsT