The Republican journal., 1914-03-26
Doings at Daytona, Florida.

but you probably have not noticed the
lapse, having had plenty of food for re.
Election during those weeks. Some OF
the food reached me, down here in Flori-
da, and reflected upon it so hard that
nearly drove it through the bottom OF
nv waste basket. But all these things
are over and done with, and no doubt, as
some great writer has said "Peace again
broods over Belfast-like hen"
Here in Florida for over week the
principal topic was the weather. 1t be-
haved like bad child that should have
been spanked and put to bed. From
being delightfully."- warm, it suddenly
turned cool, cooler, coolest-and wind
blew that certainly had been climbing
over your big snow drifts not long be-
fore. got cold, and so did many other
people Graveyard colds they calls EN-,
ma am" as the colored waiter, Bowser,
consolingly told me when l first arrived
and was a victim. The weather is doing
better now, and so am l, but there is
room for improvement in both of US. AS
nearly everyone remarked, however,
during that strenuous week, ''It is better
to be here than at home" The news of
your billiards. and cold weather was all
that kept us cheerful, and my desk was
besieged for news of the "weather up
MISERY does like plenty of COM
pany. Having been in doors all this
time, my letter must be of the people
around me, rather than of the beautiful
world outside, for it is and has been
beautiful in spite of the weather. The
flowers still bloom. the young leaves on
the live oaks shine as though newly var
nished, the little wild violets are grow
ing in the grass on the lawns, and spring
is coming as sweetly and shyly here as it
does in the north. 1t is a wonderful
sight to see the orange blossoms grow
ing harmoniously on the same tree with
the ripe oranges. A lady from Tennes-
see delighted me short time ago with
an account of an automobile ride through
an orange grove having ninety rows of
trees, each row mile long. She said
the fragrance from the blossoms was al
most overpowering, while the oranges
and grape fruit made glory of gold all
through the place. She was allowed to
pick some of the fruit, only being eau
toned not to break the limbs. She told
me that from this orchard the best fruit
is carefully packed and shipped north,
while the inferior grade is sold in the
south. The same woman gave me a
wonderful description of the Tennessee
mountains, where it is never too hot and
never too cold, where the air is the elixir
of life, the water the purest in the world,
and the coloring of earth and sky beauti-
full beyond description; and when she
finished just told her few things
about the State of Maine and Penobscot
Bay. Tennessee coloring may be superb,
but that shore ride from Belfast to Cam
den on a summers day shows coloring
that's good enough for me; and the air
we breathe and the water we drink up
among the hills Of the Pine Tree State
are as pure as the purest and as good as
the best.
By the way l have met one woman
who hates the very name of Maine.
Guess why Because at Peaks Island
they fed her Holsters and nothing but
lobsters-lobsters when she came off the
boat, where she had been sick enough to
die. The expression of her face when
she talked of Maine and Holsters nearly
gave me convulsions. gave her to I'M
stand that Belfast people had not been
really forced to eat Holsters for long
time now.
Since my last letter crowds of people
have come and gone, and it has been in
teresting to know some of the celebrities.
DR.. Cook, the explorer, for instance, who
has been making lecturing tour with,
as one might say, ga chip on his shout
der''-and telling things about Lieut..
Peary that are not to the latter's credit.
In spite of my desire to be loyal to son
of Maine, my feeling is that Capt. Cook
brought his chip right straight from the
pole, or believes that he did. There is
an honesty about the man. and power
that comes only from great deeds &C.
complished, or from the feeling that they
have been accomplished. In any case,
the thought that here was man who
had actually returned from that land of
frozen mystery, where the bones OF 80
many brave men are lying, made Capt.
Cook a hero in my eyes. VIM. J. Burns,
the great New York detective was here
at the same time. A man with stern
face and a piercing eye, with way OF
looking at one that causes one to feel
guilty and wish to own up to anything
Mr.. Burns says. His greatness did not
appeal to me, nor does that of any man
SO bent upon ferreting out crime that he
is suspicious of even the golden rule and
the ten commandments.
Another celebrity, and one who wor
my heart for all time, was Jane Reece,