The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1896-03-06
FROn THE SUNNY SOUTHLAND.
To THE FREE PRESS.

All my Mankato friends who are
spending the winter of 1896 in a
''North Contree", invite to take a
ride with me this Il orning under a
semi-trOpical sun.
We start from a typical southern
village, where no sidewalks are to be
seen except along the main street,
land then we prefer to walk in the
sand, and if it is early enough in the
morning to be trifie cool, at every
corner we may see gathering of the
'cOlored persuasion" warming them
selves about an open fire.
We pass on down the street which
is soon street no longer, but narrows
itself into a lane-a long lane well
shaded by the wide spreading
branches of the evergreen Florida
oaks, and fined on either side with
! high rail feuces, overgrown with brier
roses and rosemary, while just now
every fence corner is sweet with
violets and yellow jasmine. Every
village street ends in lane, and every
lane loses itself in the depths of the
ever green forest, where the air is
fragrant with the healing OdorS of the
pines, and the breezes moan through
I the tall tree tops, even on dreamy,
sunny day like this Miles and miles
we drive on, through the sameness of
the forest, until a sudden break in the
/ pines reveals tiny lake whose clear,
deep waters reflect the blue Florida
sky and the heavy, moss draped
branches of the over hanging trees.
But though this is pretty spot, we
can stop but moment, even to
see the alligators.sunning themselves
in the sand.
We.meet an old darky in home
made sox-cart, and he takes his rope
lines in one hand as with the other he
doffs his hat. We stop and l accost
him thus:
"Uncle Adam, do you know any boy
who can catch little alligator for me
and bring it up to the house?"
''Dunno TO- sho Gators is mighty
had ter git JUS now" be says, sis yo'
gwine up Norf quick?"
''How do you know we are from the
North3s ask. ->--..,..-...sa----.-..s -
so! we kin allus tell em,' he an
swers with a chuckle, and [ am glad
they can.
But the hammock" is our destina-
tion, and the old horse pulls hard
through the deep sand until we reach
there. In this part of Florida near
the Gulf the "hammocks" are numer-
Gus, though not so numerous or ex-
tensive as they are farther south
They are low lying places, once
swamp but now thickly over
grown with semi-tropical plants
and foliage, and the road has been cut
and hewn through, so thick are the
trees and closely bound together with
vines and creepers. The road through
the hammock is so winding and so
dark, except as an occasional stray sun
beam pierces the branches that meet
overhead that it seems very long ;and
one is apt to glance fearfully here and.
there among the heavy foliage for
the snakes that abound in these
places along with the birds and flow
ers-as usual "the bitter with the
sweet" The palmetto stretches it's
| spike-like leaves, here and there one
can recognize a cactus plant by it's
fame-colored blossoms, occasionally
sunbeam draws stray violet or wild
yerbena from among the dense under
growth, and soon the waxy green of
I the magnolia leaves will be contrasted
with the purity of it's white blossoms.
Our drive through the Hammock
ended, we turn homeward by another
road than the one which we came, not
through the lonely pines, but past
numerous windowlesS negro cabins.
swarming with little picaninnies;
past last years fields CT cotton and
corn, unplowed as yet in many places,
until, as we near the village, we pass
large southern homes with their
spacious halls and porches, and catch
| a Whit now and then from a peach
orchard pink with bloom.
Everyone we meet pea KS to us and
passes the time of day with the gentle
drawl and the innate hospitality so
characteristic of the southern people;
| and as we enter the village street
again the postmaster looks up from
his whiting on block in front OF
the door, and without waiting for US
to alight, brings out the mail which
| is always so welcome to US.
take my DAILY FREE PRESS and
few letters, and we drive home to our
midday meal for which we have
true Florida appetite.
CoRINNE JACOBY.
Archer, Florida, Feb. 20, 1896.
deed was filed Thursday for the