The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-02-03

Hoods Sarsaparilla, soon felt much
better. and now consider myself en-
ttrely cured. I recommend HOODS.
Get It today In usual LIQUID form or
chOcoJaHed tablets called Saf8aeao0e
Darlington. Captain Brock was the
pioneer steamboat man on the st.
Johns river, and n&viEated his steamer
Darlington between Jacksonville and
Enterprise. The boat was a comfort
able craft Of light draft. and capable
OF handling all the freight and pas
senger traffic between the two points
and intermediate landings for many
years. Captain Brock was a rough
spoken man, but a kinder hearted or
more congeniA man never walked
deck or told story. His boat had
most powerful and harsh whistle. that
he blew by hitting lever with stick,
and 1t was one OF his most enjoyable
jokes to get his passengers huddled
around It. ali absorbed in one Of his
stories and surreptitiously blew the
whistle to ses the crowd jump and hear
the women scream
Having secured the right to cut cy-
press timber in the swamp bordering
Six Mile creek. we moved our family
(wife and child) to deserted logging
camp "a comfortable shelter, and
spent the first winter in making cy-
press shingles. Three Of us made five
hundred thousand that winner. which
We sold for six dollars per thousand. to
80 to the West Indian Island. That
winter was perhaps the happiest time
OF my life. The wife who was troubled
n un efv
healthy. The creek was full OF fish
and the woods full Of game. turkey,
bear, panthers and deer were In album
dancs-for we were in an entire will
derness. with no neighbors and only
few scattered settlements anywhere IN
that whole region. We were young.
strong and healthy men, that enjoyed
the sports Of the chase with zest un-
known In these modern days of thu
higher civilization. What few white
people we met were living as rudely as
We we're. They lived in pole shanties:
some with puncheon floors, others with
simply hard beaten earth instead. They
usually had nailed to a post in their
yards a barrel mill for grinding corn.
which was their principal article Of
food. They usually cultivated little
patch Of corn. pumpkins. sweet pota-
toes and few garden vegetables-de-
pending largely on what fish and game
they could get, and their stocks Of cat
tie and hogs that roamed the forests
at win.
Picolata was the nearest postoface,
and was the seaport landing for St
Augustine. ALI the supplies and pas
sengers were hauled across the Is
miles Of wilderness to St Augustine by
coach and wagon. When spring came
we went to MISUNDERSTANDING our
logs into Tocoi creek; and here let me
tell you that that creek was literally
full OF snakes and AlliEators. The like
has never been seen before or since.
am not going to write any particulars.
lest be accused Of romancing.
Slave Labor.
In or logging business we employed
slave labor, hiring them from their
pssters-a common practice in those
days. The slaves we employed were
stroos. lusty men, and were given
what we called task work" A chop
per vas given the task Of cutting ten
logs Per day. and all over that he was
paid for-sor his own use A good
day Il 30 disposed. Although we were
In the wilderness, far from any white
mans aid. we had little trouble with
our numerous hands and very seldom
had occasion to use corrective meas
ures- II one Of them die run amuck"
| it was up to US to make all the corr
rections needed, as there was no law IN
such cases but our own. We were in
~
one OF the partners was killed and an
other nearly so In railroad wreck,
causing us to break up and seek new
employment. We rented hotel at a
railroad crossing that was patronized
hy the two roads that crossed each
other at that place, stripped of our
woods garments and became philan-
thropists 10 the travelling public, and
here we stayed until the notes of war
admonished rs that Yankees were
neither needed nor popular in the
limits Of the southern Confederacy,
and put to sea for New York on the
last regular steamer that left that port
before the attack on Fort Sumter.
Characteristics Of People.
Our occupation as landlord Of a hotel
gave US exceptional facilities for OBJ
serving the people Of the south and
their cherished institution OF negro
slavery. AS far as our observation
and experience went the institution OF
slavery was far from being the horror
OF horrors that the people Of the free
states imagined 1t to be. The slave
came out Of a state of complete saw
agexy, with none Of the finer senti-
ments that the educated and refined
white man possessed. In this country
he was kept in that condition as Tar
as possibly only to learn to do the
white mans bidding and rougher woyk
The family ties. .. the separation OF
mothers from their children. the sep
aration of husbands and wives that
were dwelt upon and held up by the