Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-10-18
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

at the present time little more than
a mass of ruins. 1t was at first call
ed by the Spaniards, the Castle of
st. Mark, and was upward of one
hundred years in construction. Here
to- q \ the old sea wall built of
coqGS as early as 1890. Yonder
may L&~,en the oldest church in
the UmtT. States, which had been
partly brhE just before l saw it,
and from ~ uins l picked up a
large spike o., ought iron, which
they told me hat n made in Spain
over 800 years \ e, which was
doubtless true. l ha. lit yet, though
cannot say that it possesses
any sanity qualities, nor do l know
that any such claims are made for
these ancient relics by the present
population of the town.
The Oldest house in the United
States stands on narrow street two
blocks west of the river 1t was built
in 1862. 1t has been described as a
'bit of the sixteenth century carried
over into the twentieth. The house
was built by French Huguenot i'm
migrants, who came to a new world
to seek religious peace they could
not find at home. While they were
rearing it's walls of sea shells and
mortar, Michael Angelo was building
the famous dome of st. Peters in
Rome. Back across the Atlantic the
forefathers of Washington and Lin
coin were living in England, unmind-
full of the unborn descendants who
were to make their name imperish-
ably illustrious.'
Passing down the narrowest street
in the country and crossing the
Matanzas river on the big bridge, we
found ourselves on Anastasia Island,
where, after visiting the government
light house, we made our way down
70 the water and waded out-not
very far-into the Atlantic Ocean,.
where We gathered shells and things
10 our hearts content.
Returning to st. Augustine, we
explored the great Ponce de Leon
hotel, prying into the numerous
places of interest and taking in
everything that might appeal to our
curiosity.
BY this time 1t was evening, so my
brother-in-law said: Let us go over
to the Alcazar; there is going to be
a cake-dance by lot of negroes,
which you will enjoy seeing, 1
think" The cake-dance was pro-
nounced good, and l presume it was.
Some of the negroes assumed airs
supposed to be befitting a grand duke
and his grand duchess, and the most
airy" took the cake
Before going south had been
reading in one of the magazines
about trip up the Ocklawaha river
made by some tourists from the
north, which had interested me and
given me a desire to make the same
trip, so one day, my brother-in-law,
Mr.. Joseph Messmer and went
down TO Palatka from Cisco, and
engaged passage on the steamer
Okehumpkee which piled the river
at that time. A run of twenty-five
miles up the st. Johns brings you
to the Ocklawaha, which you enter
at its mouth and slowly push your
way up stream. The water appears
black as ink. The river is quite
deep and very narrow, in some places
only just wide enough for the pas
sage of the boat. 1t actually rubs
| the banks on both sides, while the
passengers need to be careful lest
they are brushed from the deck by
the overhanging branches which
sweep it from either side. The Ok
ehumpkee is a stern-wheeler, strong
ly built She has no center-board,
and her wheel is protected in such
way as to enable her to ride over
logs, branches of trees and whatever
other Instructions might be found
in the river, without the slightest
danger from accident or injury.
The country adjacent to the river
as | saw it was low-lying, mostly
covered with timber, with only here
and there few miles of higher hum
mock land. Noticing a stretch of
this open country off to our right,
inquired of a native by whose side
| was seated, if there was any game
in the vicinity. 20, yes, sah." he
replied, plenty of game sab, mostly
beah and deah, but they don't do
much shooting down heah."
A little further on our boat pulled
up at a primitive landing where a
few of the crackers were gathered
to see us come in. happened to be
seated near the bow of the boat
watching an ungainly, sickly homo,
/ q