The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-01-02

Marion. formerly known as Fort san
Marco; and. finding q sunny shelter
from the wind. on the drawbrfd-e
over The moat, we rested and locked
about III with q deep interest. We
were in the atmosphere Of q romantic
antiquity. The fort was completes. In
1856, and the record is that Ii was
n hunderd ears in building. Its
walls are OF coQuina. mined On Anas-
tasia Island nearby. Over the en-
trance there is carved in stone the
coat of arms of Spain. with an inscrip-
ton below, celebrating its completion
and paving fealty TO the Spanish king
and his generals.
The old builders had for their model
a European castle; for in San Marco
fort they made moat and drawbridge
and portculis; ami there are bastions
~einbrasures. a barnscpn and other &C.
tails Of feudal strongholds.
We sat and munched more oranges,
and talked of old Ponce de Leon a-.
his expedition in 1913 10 the land on
which we rested. in search of the
Fountain of Youth. which he had been
told existed on the dreamy shores of
eastern Asia. He thought he had
reached Asia. Poor old man! His
hopes we're dashed by increasing years,
and his search ended, not In the dis
covery of the fountain, but in death
at the hands of savages. We thought
of the original builder of San Marco,
Menendez, who, in his religious zeal,
massacred the French Hugenots, set
tied at a short distance away on the
st. Johns river, justifying his foul
deed by proclaiming that he had done
it, Not as TO Frenchmen, but as 10
L~utherans." And of the Frenchman.
DeGourgueS, who took it upon himself
TO avenge the blood of his country
men by according the same treatment
to the Spaniards. mot as to
Spaniards, but as TO assassins."
We have read since our return OF the
wars III which Cd For. Marco figured;
in which English, French, Indians and
.;lsu.a. Is in turn hurled tho mis-
siles against it.
II is remarkable how Well preserved
the fort is. 1t was hard to see where
any work of repair had been done We
regarded it's condition as a cOmnlel-
tary upon the destructive force Of the
instruments of warfare in former DAYS
OF our history. If a modern battleship
would stand IN its harbOr today All
engage. in Solce of its nice work tor
an hour, where would it be? 1t would
be transformed into the dust Of hiStO-
".
The grounds about the fort are
beautiful. with their broad lawns,
shaded areas, AMI WIDE views of the
harbor. We enjo:ed strolling aborl
| them, until we started on a detOur on
the water side, and our ardor fioated
away a little on the wings Of the
wind. Little David did the running
and gymnastics for the crowd; but he
enjoyed it, and, while he was engaS-
ed in these sports, we were spared the
pleasure of answering questions.
We rounded up our survey of the old
town by standing in the ancient pres
ence Of the city gate. It is true to
the pictures we have all seen Of it.
Only the pictures were taken at short
range, and gave the impression that
the walls were high. We wondered il
the Indians in the early days had not
learned to scale obstacles of such
meagre height; else they would have
certainly scorned the wallis protec-
ton. The wall extended across the
peninsula upon which the city was
built, and was designed to be a defense
against the inroads of savages. How
ever, the fragment of the city wall
and it's gate was interesting. 1t tells
it tale of medieval life which no
other town in the United States can
boast of.
Altogether, st. Augustine is a most
interesting place; with its quaint
buildings and streets, that were an
cient when Andrew Jackson first visit
ed it as governor of the Floridas in
1921; with its hotels, churches and res
licences, hat are costly and OF charm
ing Spanish types of architecture;
with its public square about which
the people gather in the evenings and
listen to the music of a band, as they
do in Europe; with the cathedral and
it's unique sundial, and its pew lists
of names which seem to belong to old
CASTLE; with it's beautiful harbor,
whose sapphire waters sparkle as bril-
liantly in the sunlight as those OF
Italy; with the picturesque island
nearby, it's lighthouse decorated as a
BARRIERS pole; with the many links
which it has to connect the present
with the dim past; and with its
charming climate which the throngs
Of winter visitors reveT in as a luxury
of highest value.
In the evening we boarded the train
homeward bound, feeling that the day
spent in the old city was we'll worth
the travel of so many hundreds OF
miles.
EH,uS0r- Ty:~I<snD