The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-03-16
THE,

The venerable president or The
Florida Chsutauqua Association was
once asked by a man who had heard
something OF Florida, where that town,
called PenEacola, was. AR. Bruce re-
piled that If was snail village eighty
miles west of DeFun.ak Springs on
the Louisville 6 Nashville railroad.
Some years later q distinguished at
tcrney Of Florida found it necessary,
il preparing his pleadings in a certain
cause then pending in the courts, to
mention this town and In doing so used
this language: Through the village OF
DeFuniak Springs" See Vol. 63, Flor
ida Supreme Court Reports, Page 4S4.
Whether or not counsel used this lam
guage in a descriptive or ridiculous
sense I am unable TO say. At any rate
"the village of DeF'uniak Springs" not
long, thereafter presented to the public
view a brand-new, brightly painted
railroad station with umbrella sheds,
electric lights and cement platforms,
thus vindicating our pride and rebulS-
ing the levity, If any, of the "distin-
guished attorney"
Our town--and that is the purely
legal status of our municipality,
founded. fostered. and, in its earliest
years, promoted by the Louisville &
Nashville Railroad Company, has, in
spite of the fact that many agencies
have worked sometimes in and often
times out of harmony to retard its
development, grown beyond the village
stage and within it's bounds may be
found as intellectual, refined and Gull
tured people, and a cot of them, as
can be found anywhere
/ have talked with many people from
all sections of the country and they
ali say that the things that impress
them most forcibly is the quiet and
gentle air of culture and refinement
that characterizes the people of our
community. The peaceful, reverential
aspect the town presents on the Sab
bath, the number of churches and
church goers, the quality of the SER
mons preached and the suspension Of
all business on that day Except an
enormous consumption of gasoline on
Sunday afternoons, which, we are adj
vised and the prone to believe, is pur-
chased the day before) carry convic-
ton that DeFuniak Springsi a Chris
tian town. Far be it from me, how
ever, to convey the idea that the COM
mercial side of our life Is less intense.
On the contrary our business people
are wideawake and hustling, religious
ly. and from our stores may be pur-
chased anything within the reasonable
range of human needs.
Our merchants and store-keepers are
uniformly courteous and accommodate
ing and here you will find less of the
selfish, grasping and greedy spirit
than in any town in the country. True.
competition is keen but it is also hon
hi Ia
There are no resorts for the edif1ca-
ton of the vicious,y inclined and the
writer has known many of the latter
class to leave town in disgust be-
cause they could find no excitement"
OF course if one is persistent enough
and will have excitement he will be
supplied and the proper entertainment
will be duly and promptly provided as
a climax-we have just begun a sys-
tenn of improved roads worked by our
convicts.
No town of it's size furnishes more
adequate educational facilities than
DeFuniak Springs, there being at
present upward of five hundred stu
dents in daily attendance upon our
high and grammar schools and Palmer
college and private kindergarten, rep
twenty-five per cent of our
total population according to the last
Z. S. census report. The public
school building erected just a few
years ago by the municipality involv- |
ing an expenditure of twelve thousand
collars is even now inadequate to ac- |
commodate the growing needs of the |
school. In addition to the schools al |
ready mentioned we will have in OPP
Grafton next winter an Industrial
school which, we trust. and believe will |
prove a valuable addition to our al
ready superior advantages in that re-
spect.
All these things, together with pure /
air and water make an ideal location