The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1897-04-08
WONDERS OF KEY WEST.
LIE on the Little island OF the Florida
Coast,

The inhabitants of Key West. writes
1 Chicago Record correspondent, aus
tinguish but two seasons-the dry ana
The rainy. There is so little variation
in the temperature, they say, tnat sum
mer and winter are divisions OF the
calendar rather than of climate.
Key West is not only the most south
srly point of the United states, except
some islets a few miles out into the
gulf stream from here, but it is also
the most isolated place OF its size Oh
anything approaching its population.
There are Western mining camps anu
Alaskan towns that get mail less ire
quently, but here is a city OF nearly
90 900 inhabitants, with fine govern
ment buildings, great shipping inter
ests, daily newspapers ana manlloiu
business affairs, the capital OF rloi-
ida county. and with mail from tne
United States but twice a week. Inc
people do not rest content under IT,
All very we'll it might be, they say ioi
an antipodean town, but not Tor one
within the limits of the United States
One result of the spasmodlc mall SET
vice is that all business and much So
cial life is arranged in harmony Win
II. The mail steamer is scheduled 10
arrive at D. m. every Tuesday and
Friday, having sailed from Port Tampa
at 10 the evening before. All Key west
devotes it's attention on steamer DAY
10 waiting for the mail, beginning that
task soon after noon by scanning the
horizon for the first glimpse OF the ex-
pected craft.
After the steamer is in, public inter-
est centers at the postofiice. wnere
crowds wait for the distribution OF tne
heavy semi-weekly mails. That occu-
pies the remainder of the afternoon Al
night the vessel sails for Havana, re-
turning from the Cuban capital the iol-
| lowing evening. Wednesday and Sat
urday are therefore steadily devoted
to the answering of their mail by the
citizens of the island, in order to De
ready for the north-bound pouches, ana
On those days it is said to be virtually
impossible to transact business on that
account.
The voyage of a night and day from
Tampa to Key West is a delightful
one, if the weather be as pleasant as
| It usually is. Unless a norther is drlV-
ing, sea and sky are propitious when
| the traveller wakens, and the daylight
ride is almost tropical An hour before
| the boat reaches the dock half dozen
nf 10 In e1 ndc tho Florida X 9VS
are in sight, to play the part OF "hrst
land" always interesting after how
ever short a voyage.
| It is not difficult to imagine whole
month made up Of first impressions OF
the place, all to be corrected or revised
after further acquaintance. The town
is by no means obvious. Its stores are
scattered all through the residence
streets, so that there is virtually no
business district. At the docks there
gathers such a crowd of colored people
to welcome the ship for the profit in
handling cargo OF guiding passengers
that one might think the white popu-
lation non-eXistent. And with local
peculiarities of society and climate and
race, altogether different from anything
to be found elsewhere in the United
States, it is not strange that the casual
visitors fail to even scratch the surface
of the interesting things to be found
here.
A question of nomenclature offers a
peculiar illustration. In a little pamph-
let descriptive of the island the author
relates that it is named Key West be-
cause it is the westernmost of the Flor
ida keys" or small islands. The map
would have told him that this could not
have been the reason, for the Marquee
sas keys are twenty miles west of here,
and the farthest of the Dry Tortugas
three times that distance. But if he had
looked at the date line of the Spanish
daily paper published here, or any
Spanish document or map, or listened
to any Cuban on the street, he would
have found that the name for hun
dreds of years has been Cayo Hueso,
Bone Key" and Key West is but a
corruption.
There are many vernaculars here
! American English, Cuban English,
Bahaman English, southern negro, Gu
( ban negro, Cuban Spanish and Key
/ West Spanish. And one must know
them all if he is to be really certain of
what is said in any passing crowd.