Birmingham state herald., 1897-06-08
rRIp TO THE COAST.
Editor State Herald.

Editor State Herald.
 The writer, since pass.ng through your
 city two weeks ago, has been down the
 great L. & N. railroad to De Funiak
 Springs, Fla, which Is a natural lake Of
 fresh water, 50 feet1 1dsep, supposed to be
 the crater of an extinct yCl!cano. ard
 beautiful winter resiort.
 Returning to Flemlaton. rode on to New
 Orleans ard saw the river flowing several
 feet above Canal street; with single row
 of sacks of sand on top of the levee, with
 two or three feet of mud on the outside
 to keep back that river. As Darius turn
 ed the waters of the Euphrates and Ba-
 bylon was -overthrown, sa ar'e the 1etties
 and obstructions of that~river liable to turn 1t awgay from New Orleans; all the three nillioEs lately appropriated by congress for its improvement to the con-
 trary if applied to the draining system
 heretofore practised
 Returning eVer the L. &. N. line week
 or so was spent at BaysSt. Louis, Pass Christian, Mississippi City, Biloxi and
 Ocean Springs all delightful summer
 and winter resorts along the gulf coast,
 or sea bathimg and sea air, fishing and
 eating ofrfish and oysters just out of
 the water all { tRe. Year round.
 The wrfter~ issnoa tourist nor pleasure
 seeker, only street preacher of the gos-
 pei, which the people there and every
 where have heard gladly, But the mil
 Hons of money that have been expended in fixing up these public and private re- sorts along the coast, and the pleasure and benefits to be derived therefrom, cannot be told in a letter like this. It is safe to say that from 0ne-fourth to one third of all the gulf coast from Bay St. Louis to Scranton, .6S miles. is built. up with towns or cities, the most beautiful and desira ble in this country or the world. The hotel in which I was a guest at Pass Christian has 125 rooms, and a flower garden quite as. large and bsauti- full as that arelindi thes State house in City, of Reass---a wlaalx way on jetties for City of Rosesa walk way on cities for a full quaftsir of a. mi le. out into the gulf. a bath house s-wdth steps leading down | into the water which is waist deep or | deeper, where you stand on sandy bot | tom with the Cuff of Mexico to swim in | to your hearts content
 Adjoining this Is a boarding house or l private house. with a.sHke flower yard | jetty ard bath house, until you can drive | for from one to three miles, according to l the size of the town along a turnpike l made of oystsr shells ground up by the wheels into hard white roadway like | silver. with thesgreat live oak and other trees on either Side. ard the msgnificsr mt mansions on one side. and the sea end bath houses ouatfleN other. ] l As for fishing, we went out in boat large enough to seat a dozen, with a I naptha steam engine, awning to protect | from the sun, and fished to our hearts content. You can land almost anyth ng l from a crab to a catfish,a a croaker, wlh ch | makes noise with his gi1ls like frog, l to a trout, a ps'nch or a speckled mack
 era1 eighteen irches long. The best way | to cook such a insignificant mackerel is | to divide it down the back, bake 1t whole and season. aftsr-ward to the taste.
 As for oysters. they are taken out of | the salt water, opened before your eyes, | ard eaten on half shell or cooked to your l liking.
 They are best in cool weather, but good | all the year round, and no law to pre- | vent catching and eatirg them in any l of the places naIned at any time. The l extent of the oyster business is beyond | belief to one who has not seen it. All 1 the streets of all the towns of all the
 coast are paved with shells. Hundreds l of tons of them are to be seen around the | packing houses, which are built on them l as solid pisrs ar out into the waters. Csr- l tainly we owe it to our health, and the | prolonging of our lives, to leave the l drudgery of business and spend what l time we can at such places as these, that l God and nature and the l.. & N. railrcad have placed within, our reach
 .-.ss itl-isS PAUL BAGLEY. . | Birmingham. Ala, June 8, 1897.