The midland journal., 1889-04-19
RISING SUN, CECIL FRIDAY, 10, 1889

| In the morning, they set out in great numbers
to make long excursions into the country or
on the water; that picnics, riding parties and
such out Of door pastimes are organized
Not so. They get up, breakfast, and make
for the balconies or piazzas of the hotels,
there to rock themselves two or three hours
in rocking chairs until lunch time; after this
they return to their rocking chairs again and
wait for dinner Dinner over, they go to the
drawing room, where there are more rocking
chairs, and chat or listen to an orchestra
| until bed time. And yet, what pretty en-
virons the little town Of Jacksonville has, for
instancel For miles around stretches a villa
dotted orange grove.
And the table d'hotei
In France we look well at the bill and
study it; we discuss the dishes, arranging
them discreetly and artistically in the mind
before making their acquaintance more fully
on the palate. We are gourmets. In America
the question seems to be not, (which of these
dishes will 60 well togetherr but, "How
many of them can manager It is so much
day; the moderate eaters pay for the glut-
tons.
You see women come down at 8 to break
fast in silk attire, and decked In diamonds.
And what breakfast First an orange and
banana to freshen the mouth and whet the
appetite; then fish, bacon and eggs, or ONE
let, beefsteak or chop with fried potatoes,
hominy cakes, and preserves.
"How little you eat, you French peoplel"
said an American to me one day, as was or
dering my breakfastof cafe au lait and bread
and butter.
"You are mistaken" said, ''only we do
not care for our dinner at s o'clock in the
morning"
The larger the hotel is the better the Amer
leans like it. A little quiet, well kept hotel,
where, the cookery being done for twenty or
thirty persons instead of thousand the beef
has not the same taste as mutton; hotel
where you are known and called by your
name. where you are not simply No 57s like
convict; this kind of pitching place does
not attract the American He must have
something large, enormous, immense. He is
inclined to judge everything by its size.
Jacksonville and ST. Augustine boast a
score Of hotels. each capable of accommodate
ing from six hundred to thousand guests.
These hotels are full,from the beginning Of
January to the end of March.
have almost always accepted with reserve
the American superlatives, followed by the
traditional lin the world; but it may safely
be said that the Ponce de Leon hotel, at st.
Augustine, is not only the largest and hand
somest hotel in America, but in the whole
world Standing In the prettiest part of the
picturesque little town, this Moorish palace,
with its walls of onyx, its vast, artistically
furnished saloons, its orange walks, foun-
tains, cloisters and towers, is revelation,
scene from the ARABIAN Nights"
Here the Americans congregate In search of
. ''good time," as they call it. The charges
range from ten to twenty-f five dollars a day
for each person, exclusive of wines and ex-
tras. The American who goes to the Ponce
de Leon with his wife and daughters, there
fore, spends from one to two hundred dollars
q day. For this sum, he and his family are
fed, played to by very ordinary band, and
supplied with an immense choice of rocking
chairs On his return to New York, he de-
clares to his friends that he has had "loyely
time.n The American never admits that he
has been bored, in America specially. The
smallest incidents Of the trip are events and
adventures, and he never fails to have his
''good time" He is as easily pleased as
child; everything American calls out his adj
miration, or at least his interest. Remark to
him, for instance, that to go by train to
Florida from the north one has to travel
through more than six hundred miles of pine
forest-which makes the journey very unin-
teresting land he will throw you pitying
glance, which seems to say: Immense, sir,
immense; like everything that Is American"
The temperature Of Florida in winter Is
rarely lower than 81 degs., and ranges from
that to IS; but. the climate Is moist and ener-
waiting, the country vast marsh, SO fat that
by standing on a chair one could SEQ to tho ex-
tremities Of it with the aid Of good field
glass Some enterprising American should
throw up hill down there; he would make
his fortune Every one would go and see it.
It Is not everybody who can afford the
luxury Of the Ponce de Leon hotel, but it is
everybody who likes to be seen there in the
season.
You must be able to say when you return
to the north that you have been at the Ponce
de Leon. This is how 1t can be managed
You go to some other hotel near the Ponce
In the evening, dressed in all your diamonds,
you glide into the cou.t yard of the great
caravansary. Another step takes you to the
immense rotunda where the concert is going
on. You stroll through the saloons and COR
ridors, and, taking seat where you can be
seen Of the multitude, you listen to the music.
About 10 or II O'Clock you beat retreat and
return to your own hotel Wishing to set
my mind at rest on this matter, went one
evening, about half past 0, to the Casa Monica
and Florida house. There In the rooms
where the musicians engaged by the propris-
tors play every evening, were at tho most
score Of people
Everything Is on grand scale in good
American hotels, especially the bills
caught the following bit Of conversation
at the St Augustine station as was leav-
ing:
"HelloI you are of, tooF" said young
man to friend who had Just installed his
wife In the train for Jacksonville.
"My dear fellow, have been here fort
night; the Ponce de Leon Is magnificent, but
the bill is awtully stiff"
"Never mind. old man." rejoined the other,
''you win take 1t off your wifes next dress
money"
With few exceptions the walters in all the