The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1901-03-27
BILL ARP DOWN IN FLORIDA.
He is Back from the Land OF
Flowers and Tells His Ex-
nefIpt1NH

| had pleasant call TO Florida, an,
have just returned. The railroads
make it SO easy for you now that ever
veteran can travel ii he has tn,
money. | left home one morning
after early breakfast, and was in Jack
sonvillc that night to supper with my
boy and his family, 4l5 miles i'll thlr
teen hours, and travelled over parts o
four roads. 1t was a daylight trip and
had opportunity to notice the changes
that latitude make in vegetation. This
new route to Florida is star linc
from, Atlanta and the West. 1t in,
cludes the Nashville, Chattanooga and
st. Louis, the Western and Atlantic
the Central to Macon, the Georgia and
Florida Southern 20 Naldosta and the
Atlantic, Naldosta and Western 10
jacksonville, The pretticst Gleancst and
best regulated city in the South. All
OF them iirSt-class roads, with parlor
cars and dining cars and slcepcrs that
run all the way through. They don't
even tarry at Jacksonville, but keep
on and on to the jumping off place, if
you wish to 90 there. That new road
between Jacksonville and Naldosta has
made this speed and comfort possible,
for 1t has done away with the elbows
at Triton and Waycross. The great
Plant system has no elbows after YOU
get on it, but it is long ways from
Atlanta and the West. The new road
was Just what our people wanted. 1t
Is lirst-class in all respects, and makes
Its 10 miles III less than three hours.
L like these straight FLORIDA rail
roads; they don't reel you about like
our roads among the mountains, and
they just glide along like snake in
the grass. These mountain roads
swing an old man around the curves
and strain his groin and loins and
diaphragm and cpigram and make him
sore and stlif for two or three days
after he gets home. | can hardly navi-
gate now, and yet my wife wants ne
to plant some lettuce and beans and
okra and work among the roses right
away. Besides all this, the cook bas
quit, and l have got to get up by sun
rise and tirc up the stove and put on
the coffee and hominy and then call
her TO get up and cook the rest of The
breakfast. l used to make the biscuits,
but | have struck on that; | don't be-
lleve that n mans rough old horny
hands were intended to mix up flour
and milk and lard in biscuit dough.
My old fricn,ls, Judge IIillyer and
Judge Underwood, were once walking
along a side street in New York aud
as they passed Il bakery they saw the
bakers through the blinds, and they
were treading doug h i'll the long troughs
with their feet. Judge IIillycr said:
s. DO you reckon their feet are clean 2"
g We'll, ycs,' said Underwood, :"
reckon they arc by this time; they have
been trcading good while" But |
don't care cent about the cook quit
ting. | believe in sclf-maintcnancc-
believe that every household should be
raised to do their own work when ii is
necessary-and | am proud to say that
my wife and my children have never
begged co TO stay against her will.
llonors are easy; let her 80 and rest if
sho wants to. The fact is, il suits me
pretty well, for the cooking is better
and the things are cleaner and 1t saves
moncy--wc get along on less victuals
and can dine out with our children
every day or two. We can use bakers
bread and make toast and bake Irish
potatoes and fry eggs and get along
fine without cook.
But l was thinking about Florida
fair Florida that Ponce dc Leon found
fifty years before the Pilgrims found
Plymouth or John Smith found James
,nt, r
This continent. 1t has been hidden
for all these years, but has been found
| never saw the like of Northern
the hotels at Jacksonville are
ovcrrun, and it takes several columns
in their papers to give their names.
These tourists are all rich, and spend
their money freely. The men arc
fairly good-looking, but the women look
tired ana prcmaturcly old. Northern
women will not compare with Southern
women for beauty and refinement of
manners. | have known this for fifty
years. They have to work too hard;
poor things, am sorry for them. They
have got nothing but money. | walked
round the st. James and Windsor and
never saw beautiful woman; they arc
and coarse, and not an angel
among them.
New England or New York or any
of those cold, icy States won't produce
fairies or sylphs or angelic creatures.
You have TO come as far South as
Philadelphia and Baltimore to find a
beautiful woman, and they are scarce
even there. You don't find them in
plenty until you get down to Charles
ton and Savannah. Down here where
l live they are nearly all good-looking
and graceful, and as David Harum
said, are coupled well and stand up
square OH their pasture joints and step
like deer. This is their good fortune.
not only from hcrcdity and climate
but because our men are more chivalric
to their wives and daughters and do
not work them so hard.
A recent number of a New York
paper says our long haired philanthro.
plsts arc fearfully in earnest about the
Southern negroes, but you never hear
OF them regulating the toll of woman
clerk in retail store. She rises at 5
O'Clock every morning, cooks her own
breakfast and spends a nicklc for car
fare; she attends to all receipts and
shipments, she keeps the books and
balances the cash; she is not allowed
one second for luncheon, and never
eats in the middle of the day. She
does not go home Till after 7 and on
Saturday nights till after'12 O'Clock