Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-02-20
A Trip Through the Sunny South.

We arose early on the morning oi
the 2Sth, hoping to see an ocean sun
rise but were disappointed as twas
| cloudy.
About nine o'clock we crossed the
| bay in a sail boat to Anastasia island,
where we enjoyed an unobstructed
view of the ocean. The tide was at
its highest and the waves were rolling
in on the beach with majestic swell,
while the great .swhite caps" were
chasing each other in widest fury. l
have read many interesting descrip-
tions of the sea, which can now be bet
ter appreciated in the light of my own
experience, 1 could with Byron ex-
claim, s.Roll on, thou dark and deep
| blue ocean, roll; ten thousand fleets
sweep over thee in vain;'' and, too.
thought of the lines in the 10th
Psalm-"They that go down to the
sea in ships, that do business in great
| waters, these see the works of the
| Lord and his wonders in the Deep
To inlanders living thousand miles
| from the ocean, this is a novel and
| wonderful sight. Each of our compa-
ny gathered basket of shells, and af-
| ter watching the waves play for nearly
an hour, we sailed for what is called
south beach, where on the highest
point on the island is a lighthouse
which is a hundred and sixty-five feet
high. We climbed up the spiral
stairway to the top and enjoyed the
cool breeze and a gaze across the
boundless waters.
After adding several specimens of
shells to our collections we returned
to st. Augustine.
The afternoon was spent n the new
part of town, which is famed for its
magnificent hotels and which owes its
existence chiefly to Mr.. Flagler of New
York, who as few years ago visited
St. Augustine, and recognizing in it
the possibilities of a winter resort, set
to work and carried out his plans.
Besides other Improvements, he built
three of the finest hotels in the south,
the largest being the Ponce de Leon;
it covers an area of four and half
acres, and has four hundred and fifty
rooms. These hotels are open only
during the winter months, and are
kept up almost entirely by northern
people; but only those who have a
well-flled pocket book and a good in
come can afford to stay long at the
Ponce de Leon.
The winter climate in Florida is cer
tainly all that could be desired; the
breeze is soft and balmy, yet cool
enough to be bracing; the air is filled
with fragrance but not of orange bios
SONS. 10 see an orange orchard, one
must go two hundred miles further
south, as all the trees in the northern
part of the state were killed by the
frosts of last winter. On the follow
ing day we returned to Atlanta, visit
ed the Exposition, saw many new OBJ
jects of interest, and on the morning
of the 3Oth we came to Chattanooga.
We put up at the Evans hotel and soon
were surrounded by ticket drummers
Offering to sell US tickets to the top of
Lookout mountain, each one telling OF
the advantages of his route, but we
decided not to invest any money till
we made further investigation.
In the forenoon we visited the Ma
tional Cemetery where thirteen thou
sand soldiers of the blue and the gray
are sleeping, eight of whom are those
that belonged to the company that at
tempted to capture lhe "General'' "a
locomotive), which is remembered by
most students of history as daring
exploit. The surviving raiders have
erected a monument to their fallen
comrades.
After dinner we bought tickets to
Lookout mountain and received di-
rections to take street car and get off
at station No. 2. We did so, and
found that we were to be hoisted to
the top on cable car the track of
which looked to be almost perpendic-
ular for nearly mile. This proposed
climb seemed to be tempting Provi-
dence, and some of our company hesi-
tated about starting. But seeing the
ladies were not afraid and being as
sured by loud and earnest declarations
from the conductor, of its absolute
safety, we all got on and the ascent
began. shall never forget that ex-
perience. Most of us were quiet and
all seemed to be wishing they hadn't
started. Near the top we could see
great masses of rock hanging above
our heads which looked to be almost
ready to tumble down. By and by we
reached the summit, and soon felt that
we were we'll paid for making the
trip. The mountain is nearly two
thousand feet above the city. From