Morning journal and courier., 1886-02-23

| ! Remembered.
 SILVER SPRINGS, Florida, Feb. 19.-Since our last we have visited Bellview, Lake | Wier, Oxford, Wildwood, Montclair and sev- eral other places which were 50 small that I when we got there we could scarcely locate
 them. In order to get away from the gener- l al line of travel and see life as it is in l Florida we struck out into the woods for
 about eight or nine miles and halted at 8 homestead which seemed to be much above | the average in this section. We found it
 located near two large lakes and as we found | we were welcome made ourselves perfectly
 at home. We have horse and carriage to go where we please and saddle to use where I a carriage would float; also boats and fishing
 tackle, shotguns and rife, with any quantity
 of game It is about three-quarters of a ! mile to either of the lakes from our house. The lakes are about three to four miles long | by two to three miles wide, and it would seem that there is no end to the birds around 1 them, fish and alligators in them and ducks 1 mixed up with water turkeys and other water l fowl on them.
 | Sometime the other day we went fishing
 in one of the lakes. We say sometime, as | there is not clock or going watch within
 miles of this place; clock would be of no use here as it would run down while it was | being wound up, and we let our watches l run down so as to be out of the limits of | time for season.
 Well, in fishing we had poor luck, only caught one weighing eight pounds, said to I be trout, but it looked like bass to us. Then we took boat and rowed out on l the lake where fine large alligators | lay floating in the sun, but on nearing them they blew out their breath and sank only to rise again when we got to distance.
 It was now near evening and the scenery
 on the lake was the finest of the kind we ever saw and we wish we could describe it. The sun was nearing the horizon like large ball of fire sometimes see it in Augusta The moon was high above it like large sil- yer cake basket. It must have got an extra twist here, as both points of the crescent
 are equally high and balanced by the outside circle at the bottom There was not ripple on the water, and there were the huge cypress trees robed in their messy garments, standing where they have probably stood for a thousand years, now without leaf and with the smaller branches worn away by the rain and sun shine of the passing centuries; there they
 stand, bleached white as the ghosts of their former selves, while they are supported on
 every side by forest giants in their living
 strength and beauty, which in turn are sup
 termingled and knit together in
 to an inextricable mass by
 the many vines. Among these vines the
 wild grape and the yellow jessamine play
 an important part in rendering the borders
 of the lake impene trable to man except
 when an entrance is cut and pier built to
 the water.
 As we sat in the boat, such was the border
 to the lake which was reflected in the water below as cleverly as it appeared above the water, and by looking down we could see the birds passing oyer as plainly as by looking on the surface like big black logs, thousands of ducks beating the water with their wings and playing tag along the margin in perfect safety, cranes, herons, hawks and water turkeys, there was life to the scene, as you may imagine There were good many birds that we could not name, as the. birds plentiful here that the natives do not pretend to keep track of them. We were anxious to get close view of water turkey. They are peculiar bird about as large as sea gull, black, with long white neck. They swim under the water with the head only above and go along like streak, raising the water on either side like miniature steamboat, and when they get out, light on & stump or tree and wave their big wings about to dry them before they undertake to fly any distance. They look as if just flaming themselves for fun when so engaged. They make loud gob bling noise like turkey. There are very few small birds to be seen here, but great many large ones. The big white cranes in hocks of Esix to a dozen stand round, proba- ply waiting for something to turn up.
 In a day or two we found that the rabbits were rapidly eating up our young cab bage, 70 it was decided to burn them (the rabbits) out. The farm runs along the lake for about mile and a quarter, and several hundred feet from the ] T 5oo z Il to the lake when viewed from the water. So l after dinner, armed with bundle of fat pine l faggots, all the men, dogs and guns that l we could muster, we started for the ham | mock, and we never saw anything in the l shape of fire that could compare with the | grandeur of that blaze. There was so much | to burn without loss or damage that person | could fairly enjoy the scene. The whole | ground space covered with l tall, dry grass called tssaw grass" and | with the moss hanging from the trees above | and the grass below, it made complete hid | ing place for all kinds of birds, and animals | from the lizard to the alligator. One took | the boat and rowed along the lake, touching | off the grass as he passed along, while five or | six others touched it off on the farm side as fast as they could pass along. and when it | got fairly started the writer had to stop | for hundred feet, licking of l the moss with flash, and | carrying it up in blazing balls at least hun dred feet more, and, although the day was | very calm and warm, yet the rush of air to replace that raised by the flames was so great that we hsd to hold our hats and fairly brace against it. Then came more excite ment with the rabbits, coons, squirrels, opossums and skunks running in all direc- tions seemingly half suffocated or bewilder- ed. They took matters very leisurely when Cfe of he | hey were shot they were thrown on 8 stump 'r hung on the limb of a tree o prevent confusion to the gunners md save time to the dogs. As the sun went Town over the lake we could scarcely place t for the smoke which in the balmy atmos- ohere hung over like great thunder Aoud. The rush of flame as it leaped from | one place to another with it's cracking noise, the crack of the rifle and the shotgun, the ringing cheer which followed every death, sometimes % two or three cheering victory at the same time, with the yelps of the well trained dogs, all combined to produce , scene which can never be forgotten and at which we fingered until it estimated that we mad dislodged and routed at least five hun fred animals.
 On the next evening after tea the evening was passing pie asantly away as the expert ence of each re was related and the quail 5ies of each dog: and gun discussed, and in all the place would have been burn ed and the ani1 nals killed over again had it 1ot been for an alligator hunt that was hrust upon us, related in our next.
 GIANT CRACKERS FROM S0PHS. A Lively Tfme-Cane Day for Fresh.
 men.
 The Yale freshmen yesterday celebrated he fact of their. being allowed to carry canes. | instead of the old method by which the carried their canes into Chapel treet and there made as much noise as pos- ible, the class of 's9 introduced new cus- om. Assembling on the gymnasium lot fter the morning recitation, they marched own Chapel street headed by the American ,ap6 poSso1 bo oo,borooros ho l .