The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-02-17
GLORIOUS SOUTHLAND
TO the Editor ocaIa Banner:

not adverse to the reception of COM
munications for the columns of your
valued paper. more especially if they I
may emanate from someone of the
craft editorial, of which brotherhood
l but recently ceased to be an active I
member, having laid down the stylus /
in the office of the Green Bay (Wis) |
Review, to seek climate more con-
genial than the frigid northland as |
a future home.
Although my travelling has been by
rail, / have advanced by Stages"
meaning thereby the stoppage at
many points en- route, that my prog
ress might be made by daylight, thus
revealing the graduation from snow to
verdure-from winter to the good old
summer time" It was a journey which
had long since been the burden of my
dreams, and the realization of which
has far exceeded my fondest expecta-
tons 1t it that which has prompted
me to address you these lines, that 1
might if possible pay my humble trib-
ute to glorious Florida.
Leaving a snow-buried section, how
my eyes have feasted on the green,
with it's wondrous additions unknown
to the northland What melody is the
cricket's thrilling at night time, a.
though in but one key, and forever the
same tune Why, a few nights ago,
when a lone mosquito invaded my
room, his fiddling sounded so sum-
merry that / was 10th to destroy him,
and it was only after he had become
too much of ''bore" that that, with
a firm hand-pat / laid him low, and
his probiscis ceased from troubling
and his spirit was at rest. Poking his
nose into the affairs of others had
proved his undoing-like many one
before of his kind-and others, as
well.
Glorious Florida! Must not itself
be the fountain of youth" for | ask
you can one grow old here? Was not
our esteemed friend, Ponce, in error
when he looked for the waters? Is it
not the nectar of your sunshine and
your breezes which he should have
sought, and with which he should
have been content?
And who is there who dare predict
the future of this kindly land, and the
great suburban community it is des-
tined to become? Not /, nor you, for
we would fall far short in our predic-
TONS But, | write too long, and with
apologies to your readers and the
Muse of Poesy, / will submit the fol-
lowing versifcation | do not call it
poetry, for that I cannot write, while
mere versification / make sufficiently
bold to attempt:
The SouthIand's Wooing
I feel the southIand's fingers as they
clasp the sinews bout my heart,
With an embrace fond and loving,
from which ne'er would part.
see the live oaks spreading branch
es, and the closely clinging vines,
To make lovely picture, it most Won
drously combines.
hear the softest breezes as they
murmur in the trees;
'Twould indeed be hard at parting to
leave such days as these.
Then | think of that far northland,
where now the cold winds blow,
And growing things are dead, or
sound asleep, meath blanketing of
snow;
And of the many days that must pass
before there'll be heard
That which is always common here
the twitter of the bird.
The southland sure is loving, and it
makes fellow feel
That he must doff his hat to her, and
at her shrine would kneel.
The palms, the green. the verdure, and
all that goes with that
Just grasp hold of his affections, and
his heart. goes pit-a-pat.
Yes, my heart is in the southland,
where nature counts you kind and
fair,
Instead of that far northland, with
cuff and blow. as though she didn't
care;
Where with icy fingers cold, she slaps
you in the face
Until you try to run from her by
brisking up your pace
But here she coyly makes advance
and greets you with rose.
Could mortal man stand out at that?
Why. no; he must propose.
So grasp a little firmer southland,
those sinews bout my heart,
But not taut enough to break them,
for from you ne'er would part.
H. +. CAMM
Ocala, Fla Feb 14th, 1911.
The Savannah Morning News thinks
that the meeting of fha Florida editors