The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-06-20

gifted with conditions and environ
lment that rub into ones memory the
ineradicable dyes OF local color to
| complete a set of sensations We do
not soon forget. II these sensations
are beautiful and tender they hang TO
memory like pendant flowers to the
vine during the years to come to
charm our lives In reminiscent for
setfuIness, for 1t is good to kick aside,
| at times, the rubbish Of every day
| life to take fair wind DER the sail
/ ing course to the sunset skies Oh
memOry1and.
There are cities and cities every
| where, but the great proportion OF
them are devoid of those natural
charms, which, like in the case or
Pensacola, she has SO abHndantly re-
ceived.
The seasons swiftly flew that found
me under the sea- breeze skies or
dear old Pensacola as she hung out
upon the tinted waters Of the great
Aztec gulf like a neglected pearl upon
a maiden's breast.
Nature has no tinsel, for she can
not be untrue, and in the 1nterweaV-
ing of her charms the silken floss has
been most iaFishly bestowed upon
this little old Dago community with
her feet in the sea. One cannot help
being caught by the hmpid ripple o
her beautiful name, perhaps the most
musical name upon the Yankee map,
and which is so happily fitted to her
environment and beautiful situation.
The geologist informs US that once
upon q time nature took spasn,
and threw up the bottom of the sea;
| that it is due to this fact that PenSa-
cola has an elevation of sand 70 feet
above the waters surrounding her,
and that she exists at all.
There are or kinds of sand In
| the pile, so the big geoIog1st az
Washington tells US; some of 1t
would make glassware as fine as any
known, and some Of it will grow wa
termeIons so juicy and sweet that the
adjacent coOns suffer from loss or
sleep as long as they hang upon the
vine. And then if you ever get this
sand in your shoes" you never have
the heart to shake it out again, so
one soon learns from the inhabitants
| of this city by the sea, to which
am ready to add my confirmation.
Sand, as everybody knows, is a
sine qua non in various industries,
but there is a special affection for
the sand of dear old Pensacola, be-
cause it is there that the sand man
gets his pockets filed to throw into
ones eyes the sweetest and calmest
sleep that ever mantled the tired Or
ganic combination of man. There is
the sleep Of the just, the sleep of the
| innocent, and the sleep Of WEAKNESS,
but if you wish to know the sleep OF
a babe, with fairies to smoothe your
/ fretted brow, stretch yourself out
upon a pillow in the cooling, balmy
| breezes of the restless gulf, send for
the sand man and get ticketed
through to the Isles of Bliss, where
Oblivion's football is human care, and
/ there's a maidenIy blush to greet you
there; it's a long way of to these
isles of the sea, but the voyage IS
short in the old gulf breeze.
The little city of Pensacola is, per-
haps. more ijea1ly situated than any
city On the Atlantic or Gulf sea-
Eoards. If the site for city were
made t. order it could not be more
favorably placed than this old rest
less town, which the people up yon-
der in the west and north are going
to find out about some day.
Pensacola, with its three hills, COM
mands a view of sea and sky rarely
to be found anywhere. People who
have spent their lives there have re-
ceived these bOunteous gifts of ma
ture as a birthright. 1t is common
place TO them because it is a part o.
their common lives but to the strang-
er, who gaZes upon this magnificent
setting, it is a burst of beauty and
grandeur few places bearing city
names can hand out to tempt the
spirit of man.
One of the most striking sea views
that / can never forget, is from the
galleries of the beautiful Heron
home on North Hill. The panorama
oS sea and sky from this point of
view, with its feet of ships to give
life and fancy to the scene, is one OF
the most striking and unforgetabIe |
pictures to be found anywhere paint |
ed upon the spreading landscape
1t has been my delight to have sail |
ed upon the waters that skirt the lit |
toral Of the Atlantic and Gulf sea- !
boards from Maine to Key West, and |
! confess to my readers that l have /
softening of the brain upon the |
subject of the sea, and that I could !
stand fairly good examination upon |
the characteristics of coast waters |
flowing in from the sea, but I can /
tell them this; that the palaces of |
the Mermaids never had more beauti-
fully tinted waters than those that |
lap and kiss the outer shores of Santa
Rosa Island, across the magnificent /
Pensacola bay, and nowhere on the 1
Atlantic coast, north of Florida, can Il
such tints and shades be found.
One OF my favoTite views toward II
the sea was from West Hill, where I II
used to ponder upon the scene and Il
wonder il 1 had any company. The II
great altitude of the city at this Il
point gives a most commanding range II
Of Pensacola bay, and the great gull
beyond, where in cloud fecked sun