Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-02-17
CUSTOMS IN THE SOUTH
PECULIAR CHARACTERISTIC OF
THE STATE AND PEOPLE
OF FLORIDA.
Another Interesting Letter From Dr.
Green Describing Weather, De-
velopment, Celebrations,
and Life in Sunny
Florida.

in the grip of a terrific Northwestern
which drove the mercury down be-
low the freezing point; in some
localities in the northern interior
of the state marking as low as "a
degrees, ten degrees below the freez-
ing point. OF course tender vegeta-
ton has suffered to some extent in
some sections, but no great damage
will result. The orange crop will
not be affected materially; so the
orange growers are in good spirits,
but it was a great scare. While l
have not the statistics at hand l am
inclined to think that Florida has
larger per cent of northern peo-
pie in her population than any other
southern state. Soon after the close
Of the war northern capital began
to come this way and for many
years the brains, energy and money
from Yankee-land have been poured
into the peninsula and invested in
it's development Nearly all the
business men of Palatka are either
from the North Atlantic States or
from some foreign country, and !
am told that this is also true OF
most of the towns and cities of the
state. The result is that the Florida
of today is a vast improvement over
the Florida of former years. Even
so, some of the old habits and ways
of doing things still linger as re-
minders of other days. Also modern
customs are strange and rather
startling to the northern visitor who
never at home witnessed the like.
Take for instance the manner in
which the great Christmas festival
is celebrated by the natives of this
section. Of course there are the
usual family gatherings, the tree
with its fruitage for the children
with all the other things common
TO the occasion everywhere in Chris
tendon, but in addition to these
things, you are awakened on Christ
mas morning with the noise of fire.
crackers, shot guns, toy pistols and
all the other instruments of torture
which characterizes an insane cele-
bration of the Fourth of July in the
north, and this racket is continued
through the day and up to a late
hour at night, while you wonder
what possible relations such a warlike
demonstration can have to the peace
full mission of the Babe of Bethle-
hem. Upon enquiry found that the
Fourth of July is a minor quantity
in the south, it has very little recOg-
milton here and is seldom celebrated
in any way; if it ever had a place in
the Florida calendar it has been al
most entirely superseded by the
festivities of Christmas Day which
have SO largely taken on it's princi-
pal features. 1t is only in the north
ern states that you would be like
ly to hear such ar explanation as
that which was made by a preco-
cious Yankee lad to his English
born father who in order to test the
boys proficiency in American his
tory, said to him on the morning of
the Fourth of July:
John, what is the meaning of
all this ado today, what is all that
about?
"Why Pa" replied the boy, aston
ished at his fathers apparent ignor-
ance, don't you know? Why its all
cause my forefathers licked your'n."
Let a fire break out some fine
morning on Lemon street and imme-
diately a dozen shot guns are fired;
this is always the way the first notes
of alarm are given, which are soon
followed by the bells of the city
and the cries of people. / have
come to wonder if all this shot gun
firing is a heritage which has come
down to the present generation from
their fathers who were so proficient
in the use of that servicable weapon
in "ante-bellum" days and also dur
ing the great scrap between the
North and the South. Mayhap it
may be merely a desire to get rid Of
the unburned powder left over from
the Civil War, who knows?
Never in my life have seen as
many OK teams as have passed by
Mrs. Messmer's residence during the
last few days. Every little while,
Buck and his side partner, Berry,
sometimes followed by two and even
four of their kind move majestically
along hauling a wide tired wagon or
truck, such as are used here for log
hauling or marketing purposes. In
deed the OK is an important factor
in the Developments of the south and
in the country has more useful
and important mission than either
the horse or the mule. The "nigger"
understands him perfec city, the OK
also understands the niger" 80