Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-03-30
Florida Letter.
Hartlnnd. Fla.. March

4 -
and weeds, and it took right smart
of work to get things righted. |
haye been trying mighty hard to be
sick for the last few days hut tbs hard
to get sick here this country is so
healthy. i feel as / used to feel
when those chills would come Creep
ing up my back while working on the
Saginaw. when l would shake and
shake till my teeth would fall from
their sockets. think some of the
readers of the ExPosIToR can testify
to the same. Last night / began to
look around the house for some pills
or powders to take, anything in the
way of medicine, as we haven't drug
store within forty miles but suppose
they will follow as the country be-
comes settled and civilized and then
we can look out for that fellow the
grip, for / hear they travel together.
Thank the Lord. | have not made
his acquaintance as yet neither do l
wish to fall in with him. / was telling
Harold that fellow might get sick
and die here for the want of some
thing to take, why says he, Ma has
some of Grandpa Bailey's sour medi-
cine that she is never without. She
uses 1t for everything, cuts, burns,
bruises, pains etc. external and inter-
nal. She thinks a power of it. She
has often told me that she could
never have raised those three children
of hers if it hadn't been for that sour
medicine. Well, as l said before |
felt bad and so | hustled around till
l found some in bottle, (by the way
my wife is away down river for few
days. so took a right smart dose and
this morning feel right pert as the
natives say. Everything is lively down
here this winter. People come from
the east and from the west, from the
coal mines of Penn. and from the
silver mines of Colorado, tramps, |
mean. A poor fellow came along the
other day and asked for morsel to
eat and as we were just sitting down
to dinner we invited him to wash up
and sit with us. He looked as if
water was q scarcity where he came
from. We happened to have baked
beans for diuner that day and if that
fellow ate one quart he ate ten. Said
he hadn't eaten anything for ten days
and l think he told the truth. Ten
quarts may look like q story but
please ask Henry Howay, your reliable
townsman, when he returns. / said
to him, | suppose you are u Cleve-
land man and voted for Grover, the
reply he made was D. Cleveland.
But the most trouble we have here
is with these low down south Niggers.
They are as thick as flies around
sugar cask in August. They are too
proud to beg but oh, won't they steal.
They are not the native negro bat the
low tramp. One broke into nay house
where keep the postoffice and stole
about five dollars worth of stamps and
$3.50 of Uncle Sans cash, then he
broke open my trunk and stole gold
ring worth eight dollars which be-
longed to Harold and an old nickle
watch of mine, value of watch about
ten cents. | suppose he thought he
was getting prize but that nigger got
fooled that time. The building l
keep the Office In is on the bank of
the river, two story house which my
brother and family occupy. | live on
my homestead about eighty rods back.
My brother in coming down early in
the morning noticed the back door
of the Office open and out jumped a
big black niger. The house is sur
rounded by II high picket fence but
the way the scamp jumped the fence
would have made you laugh. My
brother took after him, gun in hand,
but the niger with his bare feet could
out-run him and so got away along
the beach in the deep sand. My
brother SAID he could have shot him
but he never once thought of it. We
had an encounter with another niger
after that. We were all away one day
from the house on the homestead.
10,
Howay noticed that some one had
been in the house as screen was torn
away from a window. We searched
the house but found nothing missing
when my wife happening to look
into the dining room espied a negro
hid away under the table peeking out
Heway took down his gun and or
dered him forth. He crawled out and
said he broke in the house for some
thing to eat, was too proud to- beg.
We gave him something and good
talking to and let him CO. These
niggers are always hungry. There
was one came along last night looking
for work, said he had been working on
the Flagler X. r. below here and was
discharged. He wanted place till
the pay train came along in about ten
days. | told him / would take him in
providing he would sleep with me.
He said he would rather not but would
sleep on the sofa in the parlor. Well,
] thought that might be the next best
thing for those darkies are mighty
sweet smelling fellows and had been
looking for one for a long time to take
the place of bouquet, but l expect to
wake up some fine morning and find
that black scamp missing, sofa, piano,
and all. | even chain my we'll TO keep
them from toting that away. We
had little adventure with an alliga-
tor this evening. Harold saw one
under the cook house, and | took
pitchfork, pinned him down and held
him fast until | could get good
hold on his head and tail, then Sc
cured him fast in a strong box. My
wife is going to feed him with spoon,
tame him and take him north for a
pet. He is about three feet long.
Tell Mr.. McKenna the druggist, that
haven't forgotten the banana plant,
neither have l forgotten Henry
Whites pineapples, but will send them