The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1899-03-22

--':--s-e
really bright instructors but the
old fellow should long ago have
been retired.
The high school consists OF two
wears Of IA months work-no refer
ence books, no library, no physical
apparatus, poor blackboards and
general lack of the real necessities
to do the work. The enrolment is
about so pupils. A city of $4,000
should have 200 pupils in the 9th
and 10th grades. l do not under
stand how city like this can hope
to have good schools without COM
petent, energetic supervisor at the
head of it's school system. Here
every teacher paddles her own
canoe. The schools here i'll con-
trast with those at Birmingham,
Ala.
One afternoon when the bay was
quite peaceful and the mercury
stood at GA degrees, we boarded a
yacht for sail down to the gulf,
past the navy yard, Forts Barancas
and Pickens, to the life saving sta
ton. On the water sat the pelican,
while near sported the porpoise. It
was real fun to watch these porpoises
roll and surge on the water. They
are exceedingly playful. Porpoises
here are about to feet long and
weigh about $50 to 200 pounds.
At the life saving station we found
a crew of seven men and two ladies,
the daughters of the captain, who
recently have received medals Of
gold from the King of Sweden for
heroic conduct, manifested while
saving some Swedish sailors who
were wrecked off the shore. The
appliances for saving life are very
simple, but very effective. The
gun which throws the missile to
which is fastened the line, is mount
ed upon a truck. Of course the
line is always thrown in the teeth
of the wind, and the throwing
power is only about 600 yards, but
that is always far enough beyond
the reefs to reach all wrecked ves-
sells. The crew IS we'll trained and
expert seamen. That evening as
we took our homeward way past the
forts we heard the boom of the sun
set gun, bidding "Old SOL good
night. Soon afterwards the one
minute flashes of the great light
began to stream across the mouth of
the bay, forward to the sea. The
light is of the first magnitude and
can be seen at sea 20 miles.
Of all the curious sights l have
seen in and around Pensacola are
the OK carts and the fish mongers.
You are 'oftimes awakened by the
cries of the oyster sellers, the dull
heavy horn of the fish peddler, but
of all that awakens one, is the OK
cart cryer of wood ah, wood -ah. .
A little jag of wood upon two
wheeled cart (worth fifty cents) on
which sits darkey, lazily swing
ing his legs, while he cries, wood
ah, wood-ah,' is indeed laughable.
Yesterday I saw a Florida cracker
who had come in seven miles and he
said he had been nearly four hours
on the road. He was right hungry.
I wanted to kodak him but he said
he must have cheese and crackers
first. He was a quaint specimen OF
the poor white, and his ox-poor
fellow. he seemed about used up.
It's a life of ease these Crackers -
lead. They oftimes pull off their
shoes. sit on the sidewalk and eat
their lunch, nearly always of crack
ers and cheese. No thought of to-
morrow worries them. They need
no papers, have little or no book
knowledge, and few can read or
write. But much real contentment
prevails. I believe there are no
"Crackers' in the insane asylums.
RACE,
Pensacola, March 10th.