The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-04

QUEER AMERICAN RIVERS.
One Florida River That Seems I'm
decided What to Do.
F. H. spearman in St. Nicholas.

F. H. Spearman in St. Nicholas.
Every variety Of river in the world seems
: to have cousin in our collection. What
other country on the face of the globe ar
fords such an assortment of streams for
fishing and boating and swimming and
skating-besides having any number OF
streams on which you can do none of
these things? One can hardly imagine
rivers like that but we have them, plenty
of them, as you shall see.
AS for fishing, the American boy cast
ms lies for salmon in the Arctic Circle
or angle for sharks under a tropical sun
IN Florida, without leaving the domain Of
the American flag. But the fishing rivers
are not the most curious, nor the most
instructive as to diversity of climate soil
and that sort of thing-physical geogra-
ply, the teacher calls it,
FOR instance, If you want to get a good
idea of what tropical heat and moisture
Will do for country, slip your canoe
from Florida steamer into the Oskla-
Waha river. 1t is as odd as its name
and appears to be hopelessly undecided
as to whether it had better continue in the
f1sh and alligator and drainage business
or devote itself to raising live oak and
cypress trees, with Spanish moss for mat
tresses as a side product
In this hckle-minded state it does a lit
tie of all these thing, so that when yo,,
are really on the river you think YOU are
| lost in the woods, and when you actually
get lost in the woods, you are quite conf
dent your canoe is at last on the river
This confusion is due to the low, fiat coun-
try, and the luxuriance of a tropical yege.
| tation.
TO say that such a river overflows its
banks would hardly be correct; for that
! would imply that 1t was not behaving it,
| self; besides, it hasn't any banks-or at
| least, very fewI The fact is, those peace
ful Florida rivers seem to wander pretty
much where they like over the pretty pen
lnsuia without giving offense; but if Jack
| frost takes such a nberty-prestoi Won
| should see how the people get after him
! with weather bulletins and danger signals
; ana formidable smudges. So the Ockla-
| Waha river and a score of its kind roam
| through the woods--or maybe il is the
woods that roam through them-and the
moss sways from the live oaks.and the CIV
| press trees stick their knees up through
| the water in the oldest way imaginable,
IN f4orida one may have another odd
| experience; a river ride in an ox-cart
! FLORIDA rivers are usually shallow. and
When the water is high you can travel for
! miles across country behind oxen. with
more more or less river under you all the way.
| mere are ancient jokes about FLORIDA
steamboats, that travel on heavy dews.
and use spades for paddle wheels.
! But those of you who rave been on its
! rivers know there is but one Florida, with
ITS bearded oaks and fronded palms. tts
dusky woods, carpeted with CLASSY waters.
its cypress bays, where lonely cranes pose
silently thoughtful (of stray pollywogsl.
ana Its birds of wondrous plumage thar
rise with startled splash when the noise
less canoe glides down upon their haunts,
Every strange fowl and every hideous
reptile, every singular plant ana every
tangled jungle, will tell the American bow
how far he is to the South. Florida is
IN fact, his corner of the tropics; and the
clear waters of its rivers, stained to brown
ana wine-color with the juices of a trop-
zeal vegetation, will tell him. if he reads
NATURES book, how different the sandy
soil of the South is from the yellow nooI1
of the great Western plains.