The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-01-02
OVER THE Rails TO St. AUGUSTINE.
A. H..

I The comfort there is in the thought
/ that you are a dire nuisance to fell
low travellers for having with you an
irrepressible lad! My little boy was
not sick; he was alive to the occa-
| sion.
When We reached Jacksonville. Flor
ida, Little David was enchanted by a
strange sight. There were at the rail-
road station abOut a dozen Indian
| girls, wrapped with blankets, which
covered one shoulder only, ieavin,
partially exposed waists of coarse cot
ton materials. There was a gaping
! crowd around them; and David .ocfl
a conspicuous stand in the inner cir.
; Gle. He drank in every detail of their
person and apparel with an absorbing
interest. We were unable to tell him
whether they representa- the bloody
Sioux tribe, or wre Choctaws, Chicka-
saws, CherokeeS or SeminoFeS, the
southern tribes which young students
of American history learn to speak of
so g1bly. We were inclined to call
them Seminoles, however, the tribe
which figured so conSpiscuously liz the
bloody Indians wars in Florida. For
tunately, we had forgotten details Of
those wars, and were thus relieved
from exciting recitals to David.
There are yet some struggling rem
nants of the Seminoles in Florida:
and the guide books exploit them as
a picturesque feature of the landscape.
One of them publishes a picture of DR..
Tustanogee, with his two wives and
their families. THE doctor evident
ly does not aspire to the United States
Conofa. ond thornforn tho irtnroc+jnr
exhibit of his polygamy is rather
harmless.
David's curiosity finally subsidized,
n we boarded the train for St. Au-
gustine. The coaches were of orange
color, which unconsciously gave the
feeling that they were indigenous to
the soil. There were a large number
Of tourists on board. Judging by their
accent, they were almost altogether
from the north. And how eagerly
their eyes scanned the forests. farm
yards and roadsides for palmettos and
banana trees. Many of the passen-
gers were bound for the sumptuous re-
sorts near the southern end of the
East Coast railroad; but all over he
car we could hear the word est. Au-
gustine," as one of peculiar interest.
Within an hour we rolled into an
orange colored station, with a large
orange-colored building at the further
end; and we alighted, to enjoy the
first glimpse of the oldest town in The
United States, but to be besieged and
harassed by a swarm of hack drivers
and hotel inner 1t was ~Thanksgiv-
ing Day; and | don't know whether
that fact gave occasion for any spe-
cial amount of zeal or not, but | do
know that when l visit the town again.
I want to slip through the old gate
in a country mule cart, so that | may
escape the notice of these pests. There
was one fellow who vas a particularly
grand and persistent nuisance. He
followed us for a long distance. and
finally assured me, c~Onfidentially, that
he had a fine turkey at his hotel cook
ing especially for us. | yawned al
him blankly, and he finally dropped
us.
They evidently considered us espe-
cially green and gullible, and that
for sheer helplessness, we would
bestow our patronage indiscriminately.
I suppose we did look a little rustic
as the five of us trailed through the
streets; myself doing service behind
the little girls go-cart. We wanted
to see the city leisurely, and accord
ing to our own innocent wishes; and
there we waved aside every proffel
of an omnibus or carriage.
When we were able to marshal or
wits, we e~ndeavored to get a good
view of the situation. Behind the
railroad station there was the st. Sc
o~%s1 ,0, @~I --~-I -~~th
er Orange-colored building, which we
were told was the railroad company
hospital.
There is a wide, open area toward
the east, bounded by a thick growth
of trees and shrubbery, which mark7
the western boundary of the town
proper. It would seem that the rail-
road projectors built we'll to the west,
and reserved for their use a large body
of land between the tracks and the
houses of the city. 1t was a wise
plan for the pockets of the railroad
people.
Immediately in front of the depo.
and extending towards the city prope.
is a large, fiat. enclosed area, which
a negro informed us is the pasture
for Mr.. Flagler's cows. That was the
first mention of H. M. Flagler's name
which we heard in ST. Augustine. but
moi the last; for he is lord of the
manor, duke of the province, gram
mogul and royal proprietor. At st.
[ Augustine and the whole Florida =east
coast, with it's railroad facilities. he
is the whole thing. Before the United
States secured possession of Florida. ii
consisted of two districts, East Florl-
da and West Florida; and it is little
to be doubted that, at some time iii
the lear future. the old order will OBJ
tam again. but the names will be
changed to "Flagler' and Florida
Mr.. Flagler has worked wonders on
the east coast of Florida. He has
grown very rich, like many others
probably at the expense of the people;
yet he has spent his riches lavishly
in Florida, and everybody has the priv
IE-