The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1914-03-03
! THE sunny
SOUTHLAND
enjoyed By Former Mayor
Smith OF MI. Vernon
spending The Winter Months
In Tampa, Florida
meets A Number Of Residents
Of This County
Spends Pleasant Few Hours
With Judge Seward
The Flowers Blooming And
The Fruit Is Ripe
Spends Pleasant Few Hours
With Judge Seward
The Flowers Blooming And
The Fruit Is Ripe


Editor Banner: You were at the de-
pot in Mt. Vernon the day we left
home and asked me to write an article
for the Banner while in Florida. l
told you If I saw anything l thought
would interest your readers would do
so. We got here all right and were
fortunate in getting pleasantly located.
Tampa Is much larger city than |
supposed it to be. 1t claims a popula-
tion Of 100000. From what have OBJ
served would take one half the pop
ulation to be Spaniards. There are
quite number of fine buildings in
the city. The Tampa Bay Hotel is one
of the largest hotels l have ever seen.
1t was built by wealthy citizen of
lars. 1t now belongs to the city. How
the city got. the ownership have not
learned. 1t stands in beautiful park
fronting on Tampa Bay. In the park
are orange groves loaded with fruit,
and banana plants with fruit almost
matured and blossoms on the same
plant. There are three churches with
in two squares of us and Jewish
synagogue is our nearest neighbor.
y The Spanish Club House the finest
looking building that have seen in the
city is only short distance from us on
Palm Ave. We are on the go some
place most every day Some one said
to us soon after we got here, Don't
go home without seeing Manatee." l
thought as we were out on lark we
might as well do as the boatmen used
to do: Spend all our money. / suppose
you remember the old song:
when the boatman arrives on
shore,
He spends all his money, then
works for more"
The next morning after we were
told of the Manatee scenery we were
on the way to the boat. Manatee is
fifty miles from Tampa on the Mana
tee river. There were more than three
hundred passengers on the boat that
day, nearly all tourists from the north.
The boat ride was so enjoyable that
we determined to go again. Yester-
day morning had the appearance of
being fine day and as we had moth
ing particular in the way we started
out to make the trip to Manatee again.
FIh0 h0ot Iaoua- To pona auatsU rnornipt,
at 1880, gets to st. Petersburg at $3.50,
stops and lets passengers off and on,
then continues it's trip on the bay to
the mouth of the river, then up the riv-
} er ten miles to Manatee. There was
large crowd waiting to get on at ST.
Petersburg.
The Womans Relief Corps of that
city had planned for an excursion TO
Manatee that day and had sold one
hundred and twenty-eight tickets.
There were Union and Confederate
soldiers in the crowd. Short speech
es were made by some of the Union
soldiers relating anecdotes of their ex-
perience in the South during the war
There was man in charge of the
excursionists who explained things as
we went along. He told us to be ready
when the boat stopped at the Atwood
Fruit Farm to get off and follow him.
The river is mile wide at that place
and the Atwood Fruit Packing House
is built right in the center of the river
so the fruit can be loaded on the boat
without hauling There is pier wide
enough for teams to pass from the
bank Of the river TO the packing house
When the boat stopped we got of
right into the great building. After
looking through it we followed our
piIot on the long pier to the shore
rhe Atwood fruit farm in which is the
largest grape fruit grove in the world