Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-08-14
TWO VIEWS OF 1T.
DfsIONs or ST. AUGUSTINE FROM DIR
FERENr roINrs OF oBssRTsrIoN.
How Young Woman Saw It, who Hsd a cal
liant and Devoted Cavalier and How
Her More Matter OF Fact Aunt
DID Not See It

zone of the clever articles in the current
| number of the Atlantic Monthly is entitled
| "Six Visions Of ST. Augustine" Fla twill
| be read with special interest by people who
| have been to Florida, and who know how
| differently an experience there may be re.
ported without any intention to tell an un
truth. The story is told in six letters from
different writer's to the same person. The
| following selected from them, will afford n
fair Idea of the article.-Eps. INr.l
| From, Mrs.. Margaret Ebsridgs Maynard tat
| Nr,r YORK Cityj 10 Mrs.. RUtus RiH, IHdorsr
Mass.
| Sr. AUGUSTINE. February ~
Nour letter, my dear friend, has Just ar
| rived, and instantly sit down to give you
my frsnkeSt opinions of St Augustine. In
| the first place the climate is most disagree
| able. l know they tell you IT isn't but 1t
| seems 10 he a principle OF the floridisns not
| to tell the truth. The main industry of the
state is deceiving strangers You read in the
| newspapers OF the weather we found last
| month. | thought We should perish. My
| room had a fireplace, and Rswdon's had a
| stove--which smoked. My dear, had to sit
wrapped up in furs. with my feet on the hot
water bag, feeling, for all the world, just like
| the Greely party. There was not sign of
steam, or furnace or any other Kind ct
| warmth, except stoves and treplaces, in the
house, and the halls were like Greenland. l
always had to put on my bonnet and cloak
| tO go down to the parlor.
Well, their oranges are all frozen, and |
think most of the trees are gone, too, though
they pretend they are not And you need
not think you will get lovely tropical fruit,
for you won't-nothing but oranges and
they are either stale (picked before the frost)
or half frozen. They are rank poison but
what do these greedy Augustines care that
we are losing our health eating their pesti-
la,,tf fal frtnft 4 tod IN n Ia
cious figs dates bananas, Japan plums, pine
apples alligator pears, guavas and all the
other things those rOmancers that write the
| Florida circulars pretend you are going 10
| have in a /" semi-tropiCal climate L even
| hsd visions of ealing breaa.frult one man
said 1t grew in Florida, and | thought il
might ss well grow in ST. Augustine ss any
where else. Well, my dear, there IL moth
ing, nothing in this wicked world but poor
oranges Sometimes, il Is true for a few
days you can get some mean, green little
Nassau bananas, and once two pinespples
strayed over from the same place. l saw
some Cocnanuts in the pod Il suppose they
call 1t pod if they don't they ought to),
and asked the man If they were fresh. He
said Well, yes'm, pretty fresh. got
'em bout two months ago They amt for
eating, exactly people like 10 take m home
to show There's the list unless you call
peanuts fruit. And / think il perfectly ri
diculOus
But to return to the climate all January
WAS DtEfll. After tue COOL " 2 lAii weeks OF
rain and fog There i great deal OF fog
here, and great deal of rain and when il
isn't rainy or toggy the wind blows a gale !
really never saw such tempestuous place.
II goes without saying that you can't walk.
My dear Helen, don't delude yourself with
| any notion of walking here. Figure 10
yourself streets without vestige Of side
walk, unless you choose to call little rag
| ged, humpy ruin OF concrete, about a foot
wide, a vestige II certainly isn't ANYTHING
else. and HsnallV thnre isn't hat
say II u a remnant OF the old Spanish pave
| ment Probably, - or the Mound Builders
The whole town is built on sand mixed with
| sharp little shells, which cut into your shoes
| and nearly drive you frantic. This is ankle
deep everywhere. You don't walk in St
| Augustine you wade And the dust is
| something dreadful But you wouldn't want
| TO walk, anyhow. The streets are so narrow
| that pedestrians have to retire into the shous
| when two carriages pass each other You
| always have TO walk single file, so as to be
| ready TO save your lite by dOdging into a
| doorway. OF course they drive the horses,
and especially ride the horses, at the top OF
| their speed-these negroes would rather run
| over you than not! ! suppose IL doesn't add
much to the perils of the street TO have no
drainage, and TO see orange skins, papers and
| every other kind of rubbish flung into the
| streets for you TO tread over but it Ger rLanly
| Is unpleasant
As to drives | think the Society tor The
| prevention OF Cruelty to Animals ought to
| iSibli NiiNlhE loISss llEbuIn these salIV
roads. / should want to discharge nv
| coachmsn if he treated my horses so And
| there isn't anything but sand and swamp
| And right here may as well free my mind
ABOUT the drivers. They are liars from the
1 cradle To the grave. | paid a Colored man
| four dollars the other day to take me to Mag
| nolia grove. One of the things | went South
| 10 see was magnolaS We drove, and we
drove ana we drove. IL was hot and sandy
and dusty, and made him go slowly on ac-
| count Of the horses. Finally We stopped,
| MY dear, there was Just one magnolia The
driver licked the tip of his whip at the lone
| magnolia. OATS it," said he
| " Where's Magnolia grove 80 | asked
| " OATS II, said he,-" yes'm."
| I" But where are the rest OF them ="
| "Dey amt no res, )" he replied
" But why do they call il Magnolia proya
| then ?'' i inquired.
" h ase OF de magnolia" he said
| This same man told me that the old mar
| ket in the plaza was the old slave market
| ana that his mother was sold there and il
| never was anything more romantic than a
| fish market And he told me that a scruhhv
| old cemetery, where he took me for a dollar
| was the Huguenot cemetery, when there
| never were any Huguenots buried in St Au.
| gustine there were never any Huguenots
| IN ST Augustine, anyhow. What b is name
Killed them all before they got here and
they weren't buried anywhere poor things
read all about 1t in the guide book after |
got home that man was lying the whole
while.
have To squander my money on them
stu, because can't walk in the sand I'm
giudy, though am not young, and | can't
walk ON the sea wall there is nothing but
SAND and sea wall in Augustine. You ask
about features Of interest I; there's a feature
tor you-an awful structure, hardly three
feet wide, without an inch of railing between
you and eternity, or, at least, running your
clothes. one side Is the bay, and the other
SIDE the sand of Augustine, five feet below.
"oh, that's not much OF a fall" your nephew
says but / haven't the figure for falling
ana leave the sea wall to young Salisbury
ana my niece. BY the way, he Is a delight
fnl fellow, and, entire nous, | fancy Emmy
thinks so, too
You want to know about excursions Well
the least Objectionable Is 10 North Beach
1ou can get over in sail boat IL you aren't
seasick and don't value your lite or you can
take dreadful little steamer (by climbing
ladder and walking plank and then prob.
aDle nave 10 wait an hour on the sand Ia the
sun Tor 1t when you go back. There isn't
anything to see but beech. Then there ia
Matanzas where you sail forever, and are
likely to have the wind desert you, and be
Obliged 10 spend the night nowhere In par
ticular. -
And thereis simply fiendish excursion
70 Anastasia island. You go over in the
steamer-at 'esst l did-and when yoh get
over you sec a tramway built ON piles, with
ditch on either side, and no room TO fall
out OF tho car, Just merely few planks for
the horse to go over. The rails are of wood
anu ali worn out and there is decrepit,