The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-10-25

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 land Htil lovely even in Its decadsnce; l yet. slowly, but none the less surely, l passing fRt0 the hands of that enslaved
 hesros brought, ama5d untold hoaT0ns-
 amid saRssSaakable naiserS, to serve. with | oaat AhcqAey asd ufthoGt prfceA~ the ClhHts-
 tIsa baee&er.
 | Bat. aRas& this sceae of butcAery and
 raoiae. ts~teAe~S. oppression and crsune>
 nestles as tiny. fragrant slssnonetss, the
 sweet memory of ono of the noblest. the
 most beautiful, the most unfortunate
 women that ever lived, the peerless Em-
 press Josephine. "A butterfly pruning its
 wings upon tho smirched skull of Mar
 tiniuue." And. In these r-ystic West In l dies lies an unworked mine of romantic 1 fiction awaiting the magic touch of liter | ary genius. In three characters Is em-
 braced the unwritten story thereof | Columbus, Robinson Crusoa Josephine.
 | To understand. to absorb the West In- | dies. one must grasp the Bermudas. the
 Bahamas, the yearlng continents of the | Greater Antilles. One must recall the | Virgin Group and the Insular Cluster embraced in the Caribbean Brooch. on | the coast of South America. the Spanish Main appear a myriad islands. an es- 1 pecial archipelago. chief among which 10 | the Island of Tobago (Crusoe) the ls- | land of Trinidad CFriday). But this archi- | pelago, although beautiful. Is washed by ] foul bottle-green waters. or the inoigo- waves of the Caribbean, polluted by inc yellow current of the Orinoko And,
 the Caribbean Sea. that vast mass of in- dgo pillows, vitalized by the flying fish, JaA f.trff1 .atr that ornithologic pirate. the lonely frig- ate Bird is a word unto itself. The Mystic West Indes,'' the West Indies of romance is embraced in the Necklace , clasping the soft throat of the Caribbean Sea.
 In the towering Basse Terre of Gauda- loupe; the Jardin Botaniquo-like Domln- ica Martinique. the ashen sepuehre; the wondrous outlying twin Fitons of St. Lu- cia fortress dominated. souffrlere-threat- ened St. Vincent; the wierd, fantastic chain of the Grenadines. and lovely Gren- ada. the sweetest of a family of beauti- ful sisters. As God made them. I shall try to remember them, beautiful beyond any imagery embraced in the realm or
 written speech
 Saturated with the romance which
 clings to this insular necklace. l take It
 up in a caressing fashion to bid 1t an eternal farewell. For. never never again 1 can I visit the Lesser Antilles with like
 sentiments of surprise, admiration and
 wonder As the trinket glides through my trembling fingers. recognize in Guad- aloupe an opal; in Dominica. an emerald;
 in Martinique, a pearl; in St. Lucia, a bloodstone; in St. Vincent. diamond; in the Grenadines, irregular fragments of agate and onyx crushed under the clum- sy heel of some Afrite, to whom the pure and the beautiful are an fence; and in Grenada a ruby. How shall l present to l your readers sweet Grenada? l am not trained writer merely one who. enthused with his subject. has heedessly wandered l into the savanne of literature. a savanne ! so full of pitfalls and quicksands to the
 unwary. You, some of you, have gazed upon the monotonous Jersey coast; long
 stretches of bleak sand dotted here and
 there with grotesque dunes. between
 which appear dwarfed. wind-distorted.
 tortured cedars. Others. perchance. have gazed upon the New Englald coast; made r3 of forbidding, degenerate chocolate l brown cliffs, wrapped in. or b2cked up by
 balsamic spruce pines. But few of you
 have gazed upon the Mystic West Indies.
 How shall I paint my picture? How?
 How?
 
 A prominent writer tells IS Grenada
 is the farthest south of the true Carib-
 bees, and is one of the most beautiful in
 the chain. It is eighteen miles in length,
 by seven miles in breadth; is adorned by a 1 picturesque lake 0he Grand Etang). more l than two miles in circumference, and sit-
 uated 2000 feet above the level of the
 sea-" Further on, this writer advises us | that the mountains of Grenada are sat- urated with monkeys" but contributes | that fin the towns can be found some
 agreeable human society,"" I do not think
 I should unload upon you, my beloved
 hearers, any of this trained stuff. but.
 rather raise before your mental vision.
 as best I can, this lovely. lovely island
 of Grenada. Close my eyes. and murmur | in my dreams!
 l A leviathanc steamship, beautiful in
 her outlines, propelled by enormous pow CT. directed by consumate skill slowly.
 moves athwart a vast violet expanse of
 water o'erhung by a sapphire sky. Two
 toots from the steam pipe call attention | to the horizon line ahead of US. where al- | ready has become discernble to keener
 eyes what appears to be an irregular
 cumulus cloud. As the steamship moves onward. this cloud takes form and shape. l Gradually it assumes the suggestion Of
 
 1 violet sea. but apparently floating there on. As you draw nearer. the mingled out | lines become peaks, knobs. spurs and ra- 1 vines; which a still closer approach re- veals affluently draped 'ith verdure | composed of the odd. fantastic unreal yer
 dure of this tropical world. As we close with the coast thls ma of verdure disintegrates into royal palms. groo-groo
 palms, palmstes. cocoanut trees. cocoa l trees, tamarind and bread fruit trees. l famboyants. and thickets of feathery
 bamboos. As we cautiously skirt the
 western shore of the island an opening | appears in the coast line the entrance 10 | the outer harbor of the island of Grena- l da a half mile from clasping point to i clasping point. harbor which in combin- ation with its inner harbor Cor carenage, as it is called). is admitted to be the i finest In the West Indies
 This outer harbor lies at the south -.-