The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1911-10-10
A PLEASANT EVENING
WITH PLEASANT PEOPLE

Going out in their auto on one OF
their innumerable errands of mercy.
Sunday afternoon, DIR. and Mrs E. Van
Hood invited the editor Of the Star 10 /
ride with them and that Individual. |
who doesn't get out Of sight of the |
courthouse dome half a dozen times
year, was only too willing TO accept
There are no better entertainers t
than DR. and Mrs. Hood. II would be
treat TO ride with them in an OK /
cart and In the speedy. comfortable |
automobile luxury was added TO hap |
piness.
The road ran a little east by south |
from Ocala 10 Ieyon- To man tired |
Of always looking at walls and streets, |
the country, just freshened by a gentle |
rain. was lovely 10 see. especially the |
fine fields where Marion county men
are proving their shire to De one OF
the best in the state.
The auto spun rapidly 10 the end OF
the hard road, ten miles south of
town. and then. at a lessened rate, but
still a fair speed, plowed Its way thru
the sand TO the Industrial settlement
OF Levon.
While the doctor visited his patient
and Mrs. Hood sat in the auto and
talked with bunch of little boys who
gathered around her almost as soon
as the machine stopped, the newspa-
per man went to look at the mill He
had often heard of that same mill, and
was prepared to see something big.
but its size and the completeness of
it's equipment was a surprise TO him.
The immense plant with its varied and
intricate appliances, all kept in superb
order, and it's standard railroad lines,
connecting IL with the Seaboard, and
reaching far out in the forest, is well
worth a journey to see, and must be
much more SO when its crowds of
workmen and vast machinery are in
motion.
While the scribe inspected the hive
that should hum with industry on the
morrow, the soft curtain Of the dusk
was shut down on the scene and then
somebody pulled lever and, presto.
Levon CLEANED an electric jewel in the
dark setting of the pine forest
The people of Oca1a may well envy
the people of Levon some OF their ad
vantages. The employees of the COM
pany are given their lights free, and
as much pure soft water as they can
use, run into their houses by its own
pressure from a tank almost as big
as the Oca1a water tower, into which it
is pumped from limpid lake that
smiles back the Florida sun by day
and treasures the CLEAN OF the myriad
electric gems in the big mill at night
The drinking water is distilled and
can't be excelled Anywhere.
There is a huge plant at Levon, and
the newspaper man had only begun to
see things when he had to return to
the car The doctor had driven the
pain goblins back to their caves and
was unhitching his thirty horses to
whir1 the chariot back to Oeala. to
supper, to church and, likely not.
another 30-mile charge against some
serried line of suffering before bed
time.
A Marion county road can't qualify
for an international auto racecourse at
its best, and nobody knows its worst
as well as the average Marion county
physician. Once off the hardened road
way, its a labor of Hercules. aided by
Apollo. to drive. 1t takes muscle to
hold the steering wheel and eyes and
brain to guide it; and the task is more
than doubled at night. A stump pro-
jects like Scylla into the river of sand
no sooner is it rounded than another
juts up like Charybdis right ahead
Every few minutes, the auto runs into
a sandbed and if full power won't en-
able 1T to squirm thru, 1T must be its
own road roller, backing off and COM
ing again until the front wheels
have made a surface for the rear ones
And sometimes there is a tree dowr
In the way not unseldom to our Flor
ida roads. and the vehicle must twis
around thru the woods; not difficult
task for the horse-drawn carriage bu
sometimes a serious undertaking fo
the heavy car with it's low ax1es ant
tender wheels.
And then the live stock. Cows stel
aside. with a naughty indifference Gun
less experience has taught them how
hard an auto can butt. dogs run RICH
under the wheels and pigs and picka
mines are prone to daily just a secon,
too long. Said We that both Hercule
and Apollo should be on the job? Ar
gus should sit the front seat be
tween them.
Its the writer's belief that Dr. Hoo,
likes, a stretch of bad road once il
awhile. He doesn't say so. but to on
who watches, his attitude and expires
sion convey the idea that he is might
well pleased to overcome difficulty
and they occur often enough to kee
him in a constant good humor
But its a long road that has no en-
for an auto. and in very good tim
after leaving Levon. the REQ set hi
rubber heels again upon the hardene
highway. and purred like a Nandre
happy Tomcats to feel them free fror
the clogging sand. Thence to Deal
was going some. Observe the spec
limit? Blank a man who would dras
watch on a doctors auto, There
always human suffering ahead of tn
Red Cross; there's always relief wit
~ so raise the speed gates clear to tn
stars till the wheels that carry it hav
rushed by.
The newspaper man, having nothin
else to do. had to think, for the docto
was too busy to talk. and If Mrs. HOOD
on the rear seat, spoke, her word
were wasted on some tree hundre
yards behind before she heard ther
herself. So he thought some of ant
racing-of the world famous cham
pions lined up with their mighty cars
OF the lightning rush for glory an
gold along courses lined with cage
spectators. of the wild acclaim tina
greeted the victors and their name
in print in letters as big as those o
a box car.
Then he thought of the dozen G
therea bouts of Marion county physfc
ians. driving their ears night and da,
in all weathers, over difficult and dar
gerous roads. their machines aIway
m wit Inc