The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1912-04-24
Chaiman's Florida letter.

The April harvest is on and am in the
thick Oft. l like to see things grow,
especially when they are the kind of
things that grace the diningroom table
and make the inner man fairly leap with
joy. l picked beans aud tomatoes and
cukes and rolled the young watermelons
out of the way. Nearly every post which
incloses the farm is held down by cheer
ful male Bob White, who calls aud calls
to his friends over on the next farm,
while his mate is hidden away in the
thick palmetto Matching out nest full of
eggs. II Erasmus Wilson, the Quiet
Observer of the Gazette Times, was down
here this spring he could see more bob
Whites" in an hour than he can see in
Ashtabula county, Ohio, in ten years.
Yet, when / read law in Congressman
Northway's Office at Jefferson, but few
hundred quail not over mile from the
Jefferson court house. l am telling the
boys here what happened to our birds,
and tell them with so much earn estness
and knowledge Of the subject that it is
having its full effect.
Down near Chokoloskee last week l
went out with fellow to kill deer for
necessary meat. II was late in the even
ing and hadn't the least idea that we
would start up a buck, but We did and
my companion killed him with the first
shot. A five weeks old fawn leaped away
with the buck and struck tree stunning
it for a few seconds. That was time
enough to catch it, and 1t is one of the
chief attractions for the children now. 1t
is not much larger than small lamb and
is fully as tame. Big wild turkeys flew
up at every turn and quail whizzed away
like shower of bullets. Verify, there
is one spot on the globe where game is
yet plentiful. No one thinks of enforcing
the game laws in the Everglade region or
in the extreme southern part of the PEN
insula where there are millions of acres
of wild and swamp land, yet game is
abundant and no doubt will be for years
to come. There is healthy boom on at
Punts Gorda now and the Board of Trade
men say my letters and stories in the
Northern papers, and my tales and yarns
in the Southern pI ess, did more to bring
about the good fortune than any one
thing else. sure did give them some
startling stuff. Most of my yarns were
accepted as gospel truth through Alabama
and Georgia and the newspaper offices
were deluged with letters of inquiry.
They are trsnslating the Model Fly Farm
story into seven different languages, in
cluding "nigger Dialect" and Seminolese.
We have petition in for the Biological
Station here and If we get that we are
sure to be remembered in the appropria-
tion bill next Congress, because the chan
mel will have TO be dredged deeper be-
tween here and Boca Grande at the en-
trance to our harbor. Then the big
Northern corporation which purchased
the so, 900 acres of scattered pine in this
county are going to build their mill near
here and railroad to haul in the trees.
So many things working together for the
good of this town naturally attract atten-
tion and people are falling over one an
other in licking up real estate. l got 40
acres at bargain and was offered an ad-
vance OF 81 an acre within week. An
other lad, a man from Ohio, purchased so
along side of mine, and disposed of it be-
fore he got his deed at an advance of $50
an acre, clearing S2400 90 in less than five
weeks.
In the midst of excitement like this
and learning how much easier it is to
earn the lengthy verdant by dsppling
little in farm lands than by dashiug
off yarn with a beautiful moral, it is
only natural that my spaces in the big
papers should remain untitled for some
time. Yet it feels good, too, to see the
little old New York Herald double lead
ing my revelations and crying for more.
And it will get them just as soon as this !
sizzling sun drives all ambition out of
mank ind to work outside and drives him
into the cool of Bay park or places him
in front of the single keyboard and un-
derneath the whirling strictly fan.
The country throughout this county is
as level and smooth as The sea. There
are no hills to climb and no rocks to Jolt. |
The roads stretch along for miles and |
miles neither turning 10 the right nor the |
left; the sun rises and sets day after day
without single cloud crossing its disk,
while the balmy air from the land snd !
The salt breeze from the sea fan the sun
burnt visage and cool the blistered ear.
Even the fierce whirr of the voracious
mosquito strikes the auditory nerve with !
a soltened sound, and the inconstant and
unslaple flea approaches you with cum
ming so srtfu and destitute of evil intent
that you cannot realize you are about to
be the victim of involuntary phlebotomy.
And that causes me 10 remember that one
OF my slogans for Florida was rejected by
the committee on slogans. 1t was some
thing to the effect that every night you
were subject to bite in Florida.
WALLACE CHADMAE