The Republican journal., 1885-04-16
NUMBER l6.
Letter From Florida.

| S4 IN THE SHADE. 1.-THE RAIN UPON THE
| ROOF A PICNIC PARTY AND 4 JOLLY SEA
CAPTAIN. THORNS AND SAND SPURS. TUR-
TIES.
Correspondence of the Journal.
| FAIRFIELD, FLA, March %. 1885. Since my
last letter to the journal we have had quite
warm weather. For several days the thermom-
eter has stood 81 above in the shade. We are
also having drenching showers very often.
Last night, the 9th. we bad terrific thunder
shower the sun >et behind a thick mist, but in
a few moments the mist was developing into
dark and inky clouds, and soon we heard dis
tant peais Of thunder aud saw flashes of light
ming. A. the night came on and we gathered
around the open fire place, We heard he rain as
1t came down in torrents. At half past nine
o'clock P, NJ. he shower had somewhat abated
and | retired for the night. | left my door ajar,
and as laid my head upon The pillow and lis
tened 10 the rain upon the roof, my mind wan
dered back to an open chamber in the good old
town of MontvIe, where some years ago a
mother would kindly arrange an easy bed for
her son, 50 that he could listen to the patter of
the rain upon the roof:
Every tinke on the shingles
Has an echo in the heart;
And thousand dreamy fances
Into busy being start.
And thousand rrcoecriUns
Weave their bright hues into woof
A. | listen to he palttr
OF the rain upon the roof.
One lovely day last week | was invited to
picnic down the ST. Johns at d little place call
ed St. Nicholas. We were party of twelve,
,4Il Al nf
six of the party from Mane one from the En-
pire State and five from this place. Al o'clock
A. NJ. we stepped on board the boat with our
picnic baskets and coffee po $. "Well." said a
Jolly sea captain, ''doyou think we are going to
masticate all that food to-day "Certainly,"
said bright eyed lady, We shall see at noon
time, when you are hungry. that my frosted
cakes, miuce pies and sandwiches will dsap-
pear down your throat like dew before sum
| ner's sun" As our boat was gliding over the
water one of our party asked the captain to tell
us something about his life upon the sea. II
have lived ON the water off and on for 80 years
and have seen many rough and stormy sea-
said the captain as he ran hi- fingers through
his whi>kers; and the jolly yarns he spun keep
the party in good spirits until we reach our des-
tipation. When we had landed and made fast
our boat we started for 4 rambie through the
pine forests. Noticing a cump of little haw
trees, with green and tender leaves. we each
cut cane and walked on. These Southern
forests are very different from Maine for
ests. One can walk for miles and not come in
contact with any shruhbery to speak of, while
the tail pine trees and the gigantic live oaks
present very picturesque sight One very dis
agreeable thing we encounter in rambling
through these woods is fhe numerous thorns
and sand spurs. On this occasion as | was
>trOiling along with Il gentleman from the
Pine Tree State and he was telling me of
the hard>hips he endured in our late civil
war, | Was torcibly reminded of these
plaques. He suggested, a> he noticed a lit
tie spot of green grass, which made u~ think
OF home that we >it down for moment.
He quickly seated himself on the ground and
was beginning to tell me of his suffering in
Andrr,onHilIe as took a seat by his side, but
with Il >la>modic jerk suddenly rose to my
feet while my hat was caught by Il please let
20" which was twined around Il cluster of
small trees near by. "Wa> that Il rartlt>nake
| hat bit me ON my leg" said l. a~ brought my
hand around 10 the place which felt it, though
q dozen cambrie needles We're sticking into
me. You are not >un-," said my friend
laughing quite heartily; YOU have only sat
down on some sand spurs for >rc that your
clothing is well filled with thrm. After scrap
ing these troublesome things from my gar