The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1914-03-04
A Florida Kick For Cooler Conditions,
Punta Gorda, February %, 1914.

Punta Gorda, February 26, 1914.
And so the Allegheny is again frozen
over aud clogged with ice, eh? Really It
seems incredible. and read 1t In the
REPUBLICAN few days ago and believe
IT, because the Sun is not the only paper
printed on this exciting orb entitled to
the slogan, "if you see it in our columns
it's so."
1t seems hard to believe while sitting in
your front yard surrounded by every evil
deuce of summer, the mild breeze tanning
your suu-burned countenance, the warm
waters of the bay breaking in tiny wsve-
let's against the verdant edge Of the shore,
old Sol himself almost directly overhead,
orange blossom perfume filling your
nostrils at every breath, and a hungry
horde of mosquitoes of the snopheles tyre
lowering near and awaiting their chance
to fill themselves on your good red blood.
Yet know it is so without seeing It In
tie Sun for lived two winters in Tio.
uesta, and recollect vividly what hap
pened to that limpid stream along In Jan.
uary and February OF each year.. And /
do not think that anybody ever felt the
worse for the freezing over of the Allegh-
eny; on the contrary think 1t is a good
thing for man and beast, even II few fat
pigs do get drowned on the annual ice
moving day. l am hungry to see ice in Q
river. sm tired OF perennial jasmine
and blue hyacinth and green, green for
ever. 1t is over two years since / saw
fake of snow and have forgotten how
you put on a mitten. This is the land of
the no overcost, the shirt sleeve, the
straw chapeau, the minus pork sausage,
the plus ice factory and the corrugated
leather neck. 1t is very foolish to come
to this cline with fair skin, because It is
invariably ruined A good skin should
always be left at home when any one
starts on trip to south Florida, Central
America or Cuba.
Good skins do not last here, and bad
ones are to be preferred. good skin
turns bad in this climate as much from
contamination as from exposure. Moth
ing will endure on the West side of the
southern end of this pininsuls. The or
dinary northern skin will peel, aud blis-
ter, and scale of, and tan and burn red,
and roughen itself, and shed. and wrinkle
and corrugsie, and so forth, within sixty
days after arrival. But this does not in
dicate connivance at skin game down
here. There is some talk of that over on
the East side but not on this side. am
bold enough to say that some of those
land companies they have over there
ought to be called water companies. But
they are entering upon an era of drains,
bitches, canals, culverts, and dikes, and
the good, rich, submerged land will be
made to blossom like the valley of the
Nile.
Winter is our "seaso1" here, and am
in "clover up to my knees" as old Grand
Dad Krumerine from Northumberland
county used to say. Sister Sarah is with
me and we are keeping house on the Bay
and zig tree but our own tomatoes and
lettuce and radishes and lemons as well.
We can take stroll along the shore at
low tide and gather basket of oysters,
and we can walk out on our mile pier and
catch mess of Writings or trout or Span
ish mackrel any day after four o'clock
and get back in time to fry them for sup
per. We can-but then in limited space
1t would be best to specify what we can
not do, for this is the land of ala libertad"
as the Cuhans say, and everything goes.
No questions are asked except by the
kindergarten class.
Brought upon the farm without any
hankering FIR the sea, with an early in
culcation of the beauty of things growing
and things showing, have always taken
great delight in agricultural fairs, but un-
Ill this "season" 1 have never had Il o
unique experience of attending regular
old-fashioned county fair during the
second week in February. Imagine For
est county holding its fair during the last
week in January, and the Grsngers' pic
mic Immediately following! How would
1t look to sit in the grand stand, your
shiveriug shape wrapped in heavy over
coat and muller, and watch the attend
ants shovel the snow off the race trackH
1t would look all right to me, and there is
something weird, uncanny, 10 this going
about in straw hat aud seersucker coat
inspecting the prize pumpkin and Hub
bard squash on the hot fair grounds in
February.
But shall not complain, for if this
winter sun gets too hot, if these mosqui-
toes become too annoying, if these June
hives trouble me too much in February,
| can leap aboard train and in two days
and half of travel can step off in
country where the Allegheny is frozen
over. WALLACE CHADMAN.