The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-16
Gulfport Aue K

SuIIport, Aug. ID.
 We reached this much boomed sea- port at 10 o'clock p. m. It is now only q. m., yet I think have seen every thing worth seeing in the town. The finest product of the place Ia It's re- markedly large and vigorous mos quitoes. They seem to have imbibed with the blood of the boomers all the spirit of boom town. Such sturdy and blood-thirsty specimens of their race I have met elsewhere. They laugh to scorn the obstacle of a bar; think the large ones hide themselves In its folds during the day and help the little ones through the netting at night But are there any little ones at Gulfport? Boom towns have generally only adults for their human population and I think the same must be true of these insect immigrants also.
 At daybreak I had borne their at- tacks as long as could. so I arose and went out to see the town, of which I have heard so much. Gulfporters say they have 100000 inhabitants: out siders say 5000. Will a great city grow up here? Shall the Crescent City some day hide her diminished head harbor sail Into Gulfport? 1 do not know; the Gulfporters think so be- cause. as they say. ships must be lowed ninety miles to New Orleans, and only twelve miles to Gulfport. But the Crescent City people say that only ships drawing twenty-two feet can enter Gulfport while those drawing over thirty come right up to the New Or leans wharves. "Quien sabe?" Who knows? as the Dagoes say.
 The Sea, the Open Sea-" Not quite that. only the Gulf, the Gulf, the open Gulf" but 1t Is salt and is a part of the great world embracing ha 4.a a..aHt l. xas. .a.-s.A A | of it's restless waves no matter how | often the experience Is repeated? There l Is a pier here extending for mile Into | the water; took a lonely walk to it's very end and thence watched the sun | rise,
 "Pillowing his chin upon an Orient wave"
 seaEulls were flying here and there over the water. and a pelican sat on a
 bit of driftwood watching the waves | to catch a breakfast for her nestlings | in some secluded marsh.
 1 What an interesting chapter could I be written on the myths of animal life. and how they persist in literature, no matter how positively they have been
 contradicted by science. The pelican feeds it's young with fish which 1t has deposited in the pouch that careful | Mother Nature gave 1t for this pur- pose Yet to the end of time for the I poet and the painter, the pelican will l be the emblem of self-sacrifce and de- votion---the mother who feeds her young on her own flesh and blood. It is on account of this myth that Lou- | isiana has made the pelican the em. blem Of her State Seal. Even the church has adopted the myth to illus- | trate her divine mysteries; and the | pelican is one emblem in sacred paint | ing of Him who gave His own flesh | Ar Ifn
 White and red oleanders more than l twenty feet high flourish nere as oaks I do elsewhere. have never before seen | the cane of our river banks used as l an ornamental plant. It is really very l effective, massed in great clumps and allowed to grow year after year un- | disturbed.
 There is a curious fact in regard to our cane that is not generally known: Once In a generation and only once, it bears seed. Several years ago an ob- servant friend of mine brought me great punches crowned with tufts of | luxuriant seed--something like very large oats, if I remember rightly. My former friend told me that this phe. nomenon had occurred only once be- fore in his recollection. Who can ex- plain this? Why should this giant grass difrer so radically in its habits from all the other grasses-man's fa-
  wheat. barley, oats and rice? The bam. boo of the East b said to be closely akin to our cane should like to know what are its habits of seed bear- ing.
 There are no industries in Gulfport except those connectedwith the railroads and the shipping-no oyster, fish or crab canneries. Some boys were fish, ing from the wharf with hooks and lines; they told me they caught sea- trout founders, bass. reddish and crokers: there are no Holsters here. The popua1tion is, think, floating one. I was told there are number of Italians and Creeks. can never see these latter emigrants without eer. tain electric thrill as though had layed hold of one link of chain reach ing far back to the glorious days or Thermopolae and Salamis. often ask these citizens: From what place did you eome?" and when they answer "Athens" or Sparta" look at their brown faces almost with reverence. Their language has changed; but is still much nearer to ancient Greek than Italian to Latin; indeed, sonG schol- ars maintain that Greek should not be considered a dead language. It is said that Schlienan. the resurrector of Ancient Troy who settled in Athens