Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-03-21
From the Land Of Frost to the Land
of Flowers.
INCIDENTS OF TIE ITINERARY
Tho Wonderful Recuperation in the
State of Florida.
A REVIEW OF THE CONDITIONS
STAFF Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Is possible than to travel four or five
hundred miles on a railroad train. If you
add on couple, Of hundred more the fact
becomes more patent. And people grow
different the further they go IL they happen
10 De 1ourneying in the same car with you.
This struck me in the case of "a gentle
man who left Washington with me. When
he came into the Pullman he was fussng
with himself for not wearing his heavy
oVercoat. When we reached Jacksonville
Sunday he offered the bus driver a half
dollar to take him where he could pur-
chase suit of gauze underclothes. The
trip down from the capital is Interesting
when you have travelling companion like
that. When the Atlantic coast flyer passed
Quant1co l Informed him that the place
was President Cleveland'S favorite duck
Ing ground. Senator Ben Tillman would
nave employed him an understudy had
ne heard what followed. Private Secretary
Ihurber would have had a duck fit. A
PRESIDENT duck hunting when he got $50
wv year for 'tendin' to the peoples bust
ness! Why didn't he buy his ducks: 'Meri-
can people gittin' sick an tired of such
doin's. Might as we'll have er monerky err
Rooshy. Couldn't shoot ducks any moren
he could hit krect policy. 1 changed the
subject to Indian Head and the proving
grounds. All stuff an nonsense. No sense
In spendin' money tryin' guns an wastn'
carry the guns II they air good, neer no
tottyfycashuns TO Put 'em in, neither.
The Conduct Of the War.
AS we approached Richmond and ratified
along through the historic surroundings l
tried to touch his ardor by wartime sug-
gestion. He never took no stock in the war,
ne said. Did think about goin' in once, but
when he saw 'em palaverin' around and not
goin right down an takin' Richmond an
Inf 1lnvyf ho &c
use Ever sence then he'd believed in
obbytrashun an would raise his voice in
favor of it every time. And he did until
the berths were made up. and he turned in
kicking against the obduracy of the porter
IN letting down the upper berth when there
was no one to get in.
Next morning he didn't think much of the
southern country. 1t was too fiat, and he
could see no evidences of the push and pro-
gress he had heard much about. From
Charleston down to Savannah he was peer
ing out, trying 10 find crops of early vege-
tables and white man. s.'Nothin' but
nlggers. by Sum!' he calculated, as station
after station gave glimpse of a dozen col
ored brothers and sisters. From being tire
some he grew amusing, and therefore harm
less.
Other eyes than his could have seen the
signs Of the advancing south in the new
fences, the increasing number of cleared
fields. the pink OF the peach blows in many
an orchard, succeeded by the white clouds of
the pear. The immense traffic evident at
Savannah was indicative of the forward
movement, and again at Waycross, where
l saw the cars of twenty different systems,
teilng the story of the South-the story of
Its universal commercial union with every
other section of the country. And between
stations one could appreciate its advance
ment IN another way; in Its remarkable
railroad facilities. From Savannah into
Jacksonville our train ran at an average
speed of fifty miles an hour, and in many
stretches my watch showed Just sixty sec
onds between two mile posts.
Queer South Carolina Darkies.
We made stop of some duration at
Adams Run: S. c., and the Sunday crowd
OF negroes was at the station. The Adams
Run section is in the heart of the black
belt, and the negroes here are distinct
species of their race. And, by the way,
this part Of the state was once its wealth.
est, and the twenty-iiye-m iles-wide belt be-
tween the Atlantic coast line and the ocean
contained the most fertile rice and cotton
plantations on the globe 1t was Interesting
TO note the dialect Of the darkies l asked
enc what he had in his basket
Il dun yestidjy go de $40 an git him
sum tings ter eat. Him hongry den me,
too
Who's him?"
Him my ole vomans"
l learned it was popularity of theirs
to call their wives him Their stoicism
is another strong point.
Samuel Mullin of PHILADELPHIA and myself
were on the station platform when a
dusky couple, evidently just married, came
driving up In Sulky behind a mule There
was cloth belly band holding the shafts
down, and as the mule crossed the railroad
track the belly band broke, back went the
sulky and out tumbled the occupants
There was chorus of yells of derision
from the dark cloud Of spectators but the
victims said never a word. They Dicksd
themselves up and while the girl went to
the mules head, the man fixed the harness
1t was all done silently, and when the 1e-
pairing was completed with something taat
looked very much like a corset string, the
man climbed into the sulky, the sirl fol-
lowed, showing a vast expanse of bright
red hosiery, and off they went.
jacksonville and It's Bicycles.
Jacksonville was interesting, as it always
is, and here it was that my pessimistic
friend wanted those gauze underclothes. On
every hand there were evidences of muni
cipal activity and corporation enterprise.
All the trains now stop at the big union
passenger depot, and electric cars are ready
to whisk you to any hotel in the town. whfls
you can telephone ahead for a room If the
crowd Is big. Niles of vitrified brick pave
nlent form the street roadways and more
are. being laid, while electric lights illu-
inmate the main streets and MANY of the
houses. If hard times did strike Florida
Jacksonville doesn't show it,
The main thing that strikes a Washing
ton man is the number of bicycles. Indeed 1
was amazed, coming through lower South
Carolina and Georgia, at the number of
wheels 1 saw at the country stations. In
Georgia particularly were they numerous:
but in Jacksonville they are Impressive in
quantity. On every business street is
bicycle shop and up and down every street
the riders scurry. And they scorch, too.
So do the electric cars. The latter rush
down Bay street, the main thoroughfare at
a good eighteen OR twenty miles an hour
and everybody knows it and gives them
right Of way. President Phillips would have
Maj. Powell on his back in ten seconds if
9th street car ran two-thirds as fast
across the mall. But the bicycists and the
bicyclistes rule the roost. Sunday after
noon is the favorite day for the colored sis
ters to turn out on their wheels, and they
were out in force day before yesterday.
And dozens of them wear boomers. Such
blcomerS! I'd be willing to wager a dollar
that one dusky damsel I saw in Jackson
vile had fashioned hers out of a pair of
bolster covers, and there was red and yellow
braid on them. Russet shoes and legsins
and hat with a section of a conservatory
on it completed the appar;tion.
Down Into the State Center.
The trip from Jacksonville to Orlando is
one Of the prettiest in Florida over the
Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West rail-
road and the famous Plant system. The
traveller sees the widest and most pic