Mexico weekly ledger., 1896-01-30
FlOrida'S Fine hotels.
RIVAL IN SPLENDOR AND Mku-
NIFICENCE THE CASTLES OF
THE OLD WORLD.
The National Editors Are Having a
Grand Outing in the Land of Or
ange Blossoms-An Interest
ing Letter From Tampa.

Editorial Correspondence of the Ledger.
TAMPA BAY, FLA, Jan. 22.-Winter
resort hotels are much more modern
and perfect in ever particular than
those of summer resorts. The hotels of
Florida are without rival in the world.
The Tampa Bay Hotel is superior to
the Ponce de Leon. The following
description of Tampa Bay Hotel, writ
ten by the editor of 4 Pointer, Mr.
Reau Campbell, but family describes
the magnificance of Tampa Bay
Hotel:
The foreground is the river, the
middle . distance green sloping
lawns dotted with flowers, around
whose beds are winding walks that
circle fountains and lead through
groves of palms and oranges to the
pines beyond, the same great pines
that De Soto walked under in the
struggle to get off his ''sea legs" In
the brightness of the semi-topic sun
the domes and ~crescents glisten in
tensely, and the massive pile grows
to immensely.
The broad galleries, wider than any,
extend all along the front, the roof
commencing above the third story
windows, slopes only gently, not to
obstruct the view, and at its outer
edge drops in huge ornaments, in
arched and hanging pendants ending
il brackets at every column, and at
the walls; the grateful shade inviting
as on a summers day.
The lawn, carefully kept and green
As one of Kentucky's own, has a min
iature fort with mounted cannon and
a Flagstaff that floats the country's
colors by day and sports a crescent of
electric fire at night.
Other hotels may have cost more
dollars to build, decorate and furnish,
and their name and fame gone to the
four quarters, and tits not intended to
compare invidiously. Here at Tampa
Bay, the surroundings take n back
through centuries even before De
Soto came, and this may have been
the very spot where he landed, who
knows?
The rotunda is a grand assembly hall
with its polished floors, rich carpets
and h~angings, antique vases and brio
a-brac, divans and luxurious lounges,
as little like a hotel office as the "east
room" of the White House is like a
railway station. The apartment is 81
feet square, and is 80 feet from floor
to ceiling. The massive doors are of
Spanish mahogany, highly polished,
encasing heavy plates of beveled
glass; the frames r carved in de-
signs of great beauty.
Thirteen marble columns support a
balcony that looks over from the sec
ond floor, around which is a carved
rail, also in Spanish mahogany.
The paintings are varied in design, as
they are in age and history-and every
one, every antique and cabinet has its
history. On one wall is q beautiful
canvas, the "Return from the Mas
querade," on another, Swine, Wife
and Song" suggest the gay side OF life,
while some of the old faded examples
of the schools of long ago again carry
one back to the old master. Two
dwarfs in bronze that suggest the
Black Forest legends, guard the en-
trance to the hall of the grand salon,
and near them are two vases of Japan
ese art, six feet high, which were ex-
hibited at the Vienna exposition.
Mirrors in antique frames, rich in
gilded carvings,are on the walls, mas
sive doors in beveled glass lead to
parlors, halls, libraries and writing
rooms--electric lights are imbedded
in the ceilings and walls, and hang
down in chandeliers; this is the ro-
tunda, the business Office occupying
the smallest corner.
The grand parlor-a salon-a dream
of magnificence Observation-Disclosures
here where the pencil fails to say
what there is, or to tell about it in any
way, every nook and corner has some
dainty bit to show a woman's hand
has been here, and in all the grand
apartment shows what might have
been done by a princess in her own
house-a princess right royal in her
taste and perception made this the
salon of a continent. 1t was her de-
sign that this dlvan should have grow