Arizona republican., 1904-02-01

could accommodate. Neither was there disappointment, for everybody had been warned what to expect. Florence had promised to do nothing Except to permit herself to be looked at, and she more than delivered the goods, for all who had any accommo- dations to offer were as courteous as anybody could be under such embatfas- sing circumstances.
 So the main army walked. only a few brigadier generals rode and they didn't have to unless they wanted to. And such a walk, It was a positive delight to shove ones toes through the little sand dunes and kick up a dust for the bunch behind. Up the little knolls and down through the gullies, lodging the cactus and kicking the malpai, "Oh, my counerymen," what a sight for shoe dealers And then. the river bed. Bounding pillows of sand and rippling wavelets of-nore sand And beyond the Alps" lies some more of that same kind of sand followed by the dusty road that leads to the Florence hotel. Here Bill. you carry the kid awhile" and Mary, I'll wrestle with the twins if youll only take that lunch basket was the refrain of the vanguard. waited back through the sunshine to the rear guard which was peeling its coat. But on they plodded and finally the whole army rendezvoused before the Florence hotel like the hosts of Napoleon before Moscow. But it didn't stay punched. Some two or three hundred stood in line for din- ner table turns and the rest sought shady places for the enjoyment of the lunches brought with them, or formed in squads of half a dozen to do the town, tourist fashion. A quaint cid place is Florence. for the most part adobe, architecturaly speaking, with here and there d modern brick resi- dence, a few very handsome and cozy ones, big school house and a still bigger court house. Most of the buildings show the ravages of time and most of them are built fronting directly on the sidewalks, Mexican fashion. for the major part of the old time Florence was d Mexican settle ment Two or three modern brick stores are up to date in appearance and there will be more of them for beyond question Florence has seen her worst days and the future is full of promise.
 There were TO public exercises or demonstrations in honOr of the occa- sion and none were expected. Sight seeing and luncheon over, the only thing that claimed attention till the hour of departure was a baseball game and most of the visitors left before that was finished. in order to be at the depot OH time. The Mesa City baseball team had joined the eXcur- sion with blood in its eye and re- turned home with the Florence scalp hanging to its belt by a score of il to :. The game was very gCod one all things considered and real baseball zest was added to the occasion by diff ferences between the players at the end of the first inning. respecting ruling Of the umpire. Pancho, a Phoe- nix crack. There was d bluff by one side of walking of the field, but il quickly repented itself and the game continued. From that time on it was pretty good ball, the visitors feeling it their privilege to butt in on the coaching. The teams were both handi- capped, however. by reason of the fact that the field was not enclosed and there was no way of telling when the ball was over the fence The grand stand is yet to be built and as the ball ground only extended from the court house to the Catalina noun tains the crowd could find no place to stand except along the foul lines, which interfered with traffic when there was bunch of runs to send in On a limited schedule. The bleach CTS consisted also of all out doors and there was plenty of room. If any body stood up it was because he didn't want to sit. down.
 And that ended the day at Florence. a day of general good nature, day that will result in closer friendship and a more congenial business inti- macy between the residents of the great Salt river valley and the resi- dents of the Gila valley which it is sincerely believed will someday be it's equal in wealth and general prosper itv.
 The return trip was like that of the