The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1894-01-24
ARP IN FLORIDA.
Where There Are Plenty OF Visitors anu
Very Good Fishing Places.
rAtlanta Constitution.

rAtlanta Constitution.
7 saw two fishermen unloading
cargo of salted fish from their boat at
Tampa. The barrels were all marked
for Charleston. I interviewed these
fishermen and they told me they caught
as many as 10000 in a week down at
Sarasota bay. Now I am done with
fish stories. left my folks fishing at
Clearwater, but they are not so "lld
about it now and will soon get tired.
saw girl hang an enospous trout ana
she held him and played him around
until he got tired and a boat was sent
out to secure him. guessed be weighed
fifteen pounds and others guessed
twelve and ten, but when he was put
on the scales he came down to nine.
An old fisherman remarked that it was
a sin to weigh fish, for they always
fall short.
Tampa is lively. The hotels are fill
ing up, trade is good and money cir
culating just like it used to before the
panic. Most of this money comes from
abroad and is quickly scattered around.
Every other house is either hotel Or
a boarding house. The strangers come
from everywhere up North and many
from Georgia and Tennessee. l came
down with a man and his wife, who
were from North Michigan, and had
ncver been South. It entertained me
to see their amazenent, for he said he
had lust put up $50 tons of ice before
he left home. They are delighted with
the country and with the people. he
said everybody was so kind and nabor-
" and that he had no idea of flndlng
such good people down South. l think
that his wife was almost afraid to come,
but she is in bad health and she had
lust as we'll risk the rebels in Florida as
death at home, and so she came. She
has improved much within week.
The Tampa Bay hotel, where the
millionaires congregate, has not yet
filled up, but will be by the middle OF
the month. It is a magnificent house
and so bewilders me that I feel solemn
in its beautiful apartments and don'C {
dare to talk in my usual tone OF voice.
Everybody else seems to feel SO too for
it is not like hotel. While you are
walking on velvet carpets that cost -
yard, or sitting on chairs that cost
$50 apiece, and see paintings on the
walls that cost from 500 to 5000, ana
the whole building in blaze of heaven
ly lights and delicious music charming
the ear and delightful odors perfumlng
the air and the servants al in livery, d
common man feels like the old woman
at the circus for the first time in her
life. When the grand procession OF
beautiful horses, with their riders in
spangled garments, came marching H.
she said: John, John, it's more like
the kingdom of heaven than anything
I ever expected to see in this world"
Now. with all that, I was invited to
lecture in the music ball Of this grand
structure, and I did it. 1t was just
large enough for my audience and L
am pleased to say that was able to
conceal my embarrassment. Not that
T was afraid of the people who sat be-
fore me, but somehow I never feel at
ease in e. house that is so much hner
than mine own. It is art, not nature,
that makes me tinid. Mr.. Plant must
be a wonderful man to plan such a
grand system Of railways and hotels
and parks and steamship lines and yet
he makes no great noise in the world.
For years and years, be has been per-
fecting this system, and every bsanch
of it moves along like clockwork.
Thousands of men are employed by
him and his enterprises have already
added many millions to the value OF
property in Florida. This beautiful city
of Tampa is monument to his genius.
More than half a century ago Richard
Henry Wilde wrote little poem, be-
ginning, "My life is like the summer
rose" and the last verse was
INV life is like the prints that feet
Have left on Tampa's desert strand,
Soon as the risiDgtide shall beat,
All traces vanish from the sand,
Yet as if grieving to eface
All vestige of the human race,
On that lone shore loud moans the sea,
But none, alas! shall mourn for me-"
Mr.. Wilde was an 1rishman, who
came over here after Emmets untime'
ly death, and settled in Augusta, and
I suppose be had some reason fol
pepning such sad, sweet verses. l wish
! that he could see Tampa now. 1 wish
that Rev. Frank Gou!diDg was alive
to see it, for it was here that be located
that terrible devil fish that carried the
boat and his children, "The Young
Marooners," far out to sea. There i;
no desert strand now; no lone shore; nc
devil fish.
Lakeland is a little gem ofa towr
and T have not found a better hotel ir
Florida than the fremont. 1t is just
fine enough and good enough for any
body. 1t overlooks one Of the prettles
lakes have yet seen, and the town l:
surrounded by many others. This l:
! quite a railroad center and might have
been city if Tampa was farther OF. l
will be a city yet, for such beautiful
; locations and surroundings are no
: common, even in Florida. AS ole