Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1902-04-04
AMID THE TROPiC
Palm Beach the Beautiful-A Wealthy
and Distinguished Company-How ALI
gators are Captured and Raised
Scenes and Incidents Under Tropie
Skies. Etc Etc,

In all this country there is perhaps
not another spot SO beautiful as Palm
Beach. winter resort ON the Eas
coast in South Florida. professional
I'Globe Trotters" who find their way
! back there each succeeding season
| declare it the most beautiful spot OF
earth, and though | am no authority
N such matter, | am nevertheless pre-
pared to accept their statement. 1t il
certainly beautiful beyond the powers
o description and in its gaudy anC
rich tropical coloring is handsomel
than any place have yet seen. Ma
ture has done much for Palm Beach
and the lavish expenditure of millions
has done more to make it a mecca, q
| paradise on earth, to which the wealth
ard fashion of the North is paying
tribute each recurring season. Situa,
| ted as it is on a narrow strip of high
| land between the lake and ocean, every
| opportunity is afforded the land
scape gardner, the florist, the archi-
tect, and their creation is the wonder
of all tourists. To come once is to
linger and the next year to come again,
| The Royal Poncianna, around which
| ali the other buildings cluster; is the
largest hotel in the world. having
| rooms for $500 guests and a dining
hall that seats LOO people. 1t is six
stories high and fronts nearly 1000
| feet. This front is on beautiful lake
whose waters are kept back by a sea
wall and rock cliff beach; to the rear of
the Poncianna and fronting on the
turbulent waves of the Atlantic. is
1.-The Breakers" another magnificent
hotel Connecting these palaces and run
ming from shore to shore are the most
beautiful walks-one of them the Gel
ebrated Avenue OF Palms, at once
the admiration and delight of every
beholder. On every hand is seen the
smooth stretches Of green sward, the
live oak clOaked in it's eternal garb
of hanging gray moss, palm trees,
cocoanut groves in full fruit and every
tree in the foliage of summer, while
the park of flowers along the lake front
is gaudy III its tropical beauty-a
wealth and array of poisoning colors
that can nowhere else be seen.
On this island-this garden of Eden
the hoof of horse is not permitted to
tread. The place is too aesthetic, too
delicate in its beauty to allow the tread
Of animal feet, SO there are no horses, no
cows, no animal, save one old steady
going horse, who is kept within bounds
and used to an old hOrSe-car to trans
fer passengers across the long bridge
to the main land. This is tolerated as
g. picturesque contrast, reminder of
1.-THE long ago All travel here is
done afOot, on bicycles or wheel chairs;
the latter method of LOGON otion being
especially popular. The wheel chair
has behind it bicycle attachment,
wherein is mounted stout negro
guide. His fee is fifty cents an hour,
but be spins you over the smooth shell
paths with such speed and comfort
that one feels the money well spent
There are hundreds of these chairs in
use and when at night they are strung
out for mile or more on the path
along the lake front, with each an cleo
trio headlight, the effect is very strik-
ing.
A feature of Palm Beach, outside
the big hotels, is It's delightful home
life. Extending along the water front
for miles, are the most beautiful vii
las, with ample grounds, each sloplng
to the lake front where is the dlmin-
utive pier and private steam launch.
Most any bright afternoon or moon
lit night scores of these little craft
may be seen darting out from the shore
with a gay company of young people
and band of string music aboard. In
the most fashionable quarter and near
the Fiagler mansion are the two beau
uiful and picturesque villas OF our fell
low citizen, E. G. Pendleton, whose
summer home is at Augueta Springs,
in this county. During stroll beneath
his cocoanut trees, through his orange
grove and handsome grounds I learned
with regret that both he and Mrs.
PendletOn were wlntering in Calitor-
MIA and had not occupied their FlOri-
da home this season.
What one enjoys here most in win
ter is the tropical scenes and climate,
in sharp contrast with the ice clad
mountains of his more northern home.
| remember one afternoon as we sat
under a tent on the beach and watched
the merry bathers, my companion
drew from his pocket a Richmond
newspaper and read from it an account
of the big snow storm and cold wave
that had spread over the State 1t
seemed hard to realize, for there we
we're amid the surf bathers, the boat
ing and fishing parties, had lust gotten
ND from dinner of new potatoes,
green corn and cabbage, and were
in an atmosphere and cos
tune of mid summer. No July or
August day could have been more
balmy. 1t was common occurrence
| to see groups of people reading from
| the northern papers accounts of storms
and billiards, while at the instant they
| we're mopping their heated brows and
| tanning the mosquitoes away.
AS NAV be imagined, Palm Beach ia
a mecca for the kodak fiends, who
seem to roam unmolested In great num-
hers about the place. [ counted over
| 40 of him at large one morning before
breakfast, one of whom l happened tC
be: but the temptation is irresistible
at such a place. People who have not
offended before. begin to transgress
here shortly after their carnival. AS
for myself l had not been on the
grounds twenty minutes when Mrs
| Dewey IN wheel chair, propelled by
her Japanese valet and accompanied
nv the Admiral himself, came slowly
along the beach. That was too muct
to Withstand and so lev eled my cam
era kanO LOOK d. BLU az LAC VI ~
but the Admiral did not stand fire ant
turned his back in time to ruin m!
picture, so l tried again, and that time
Mrs. Dewey dropped her parasol; bu
the third effort proved asuccess. Mrs
dewey is quite an attractive, youthful
woman. while the Admiral is mucl
Younger than his pictures represen
him. His hair and mustache are gray
| but his complexion is ruddy and hi
step quick and elastic. He doesn'
look his age by many years, is COURT
in his bearing toward the ladies, VIII
/ in turn lionize him.
: Then there are other celebritie
whose photographs it seemed desirabl
. to have. So | next tried my hand o.
Senator Tom Platt, Of New York, an
caught him on the fly, diving hea
foremost into a bathing pool; Their
was also Joe Jefferson, who has CO.
tage here; there was the immortt
; Mark Twain with his long hair react
ing to shoulders covered by tire