The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1902-04-04
! Oliver RhinedOn :
The Public Square.

!
politan growth. This only objection
coming from one of the fairer sex Of
our town, and the silence of the BUSH
ness men thereof, leads me to the
same conclusion of my being right
and of the expediency of my going
ahead that the young man came to
who asked the girl for kiss, and in
| the sweet silence that followed took
! it.
OF course, the ladies are fond of
grassy parks, pretty flowers and Easter
! bOnnets, and it is not in my nature to
deprive them of such inspiring things
in nature and art. They always know
what they want, but not which they
want.
But no great city, nor small one, for
that matter, has ever been built by
our sisters, and never will he as long
as Easter bOnnets and ) O'Clock teas
are essential to their happiness in this
world and menace to it in the next.
Now, my fair opponent, in a flight
of Imagination that could only come
to me while meandering along the
I pearly brooks of Utopia, mentions
Ocala as a municipality along with
New York, and the capital city Of
magnificent distances. And even
Tampa, a city claiming thirty thou
sand souls, is held up as a pattern to
build by. But this argument is too
big for the subject. Let us get up
group of towns more nearly related in
size, conditions and circumstances.
For instance, there isl easy-going,
trOtting- all-day-in- the-shade-Of a-tree
Gainesville. There is the sad lap of
the weary little waves Of the far
famed ST. Johns river at the tired feet
of the streets of Palatka. And there
is Orlando, at one time claiming to be
one of the lost Pleiades that had dis
covered itself in the Hebrides reflect
ing the glory of modern progress. And
there is Tavares, Spanish in name,
with the finest opera house in the
commonwealth. 1t is all public
square. And there is BrOoksville,
high among the hills of fernando,
with her gaze in the waters of the
gulf. But these be enough. All of
them are afflicted the same as Ocala-
the hOOdoo. They have gone into the
trance too. Too much public square.
Mind you, did not object to parks.
But the idea of park go feet square,
with the court house in the center
and streets on all sides, from which
come the clatter of ironed hOofs and
wheels and the dust of the earth i'm
clouds like the Algerian sirOcco, to-
gether with the moving pictures of
the daily grind of the criminal courts,
in thirty cent temple of justice, is
not inspiring to the love of, and hope
for, the eternal fitness of things.
Now, I do not mean to say that all
the towns have named which have
the hOodoo would become cities of any
Importance. Some towns were born
on the wrong spot and with the wrong
population, and under the ban of the
railroads and to have public square
with a court house for centre piece
would not hurt them anyIworse than
the cholera.
But look at the locationIOf Ocala.
Half way between ocean and gulf.
Fifty miles from her to the waters of
either. The capital town of county
of greater variety, and larger guam
tity, Of rich lands than any in the
state. A county with more resources
than any in the state. She ought to
be one of the largest cities in the
state.
There ought to be four big cities on
the MISUNDERSTANDING, Ocala,
Tampa and Key West.
Now, l drop into phropesy. Ocala
will be one of the Big Four when she
builds up her public square.
OLIVER RHINEDoN.