The Ocala evening star., 1915-06-18
WOODMEN PICNIC
AT HOMOSASSA

4
what they designate as "red letter
days" but the Woodmen of the
World at their excursion yesterday
instituted something much brighter
than ordinary red and might well be
called a vermilion day, as everything
conspired to make it the most sue
cessful event of the season The
number that boarded the train at
Ocala, were the happiest bunch of
people ever got into one crowd and
the splendid weather, the beautiful |
country through which the train had
to travel, the splendid arrangements |
made by the various committees for
the entertainment of their guests |
made the whole affair such a pro-
nounced success that some of them
wanted the managers to sell them
tickets for a similar trip next year.
Two hundred and fifty tickets were
sold in Ocala, few more got on at
Martel and when the large party got
aboard at Dunnellon the train was
full, but at Crystal River it appeared
as tho the whole town was waiting at
the station, so many in fact that the
agent was sold out of tickets and
they had to be supplied on the train
while the passengers disposed them
selves three on a seat or stood in the
aisles, all of which seemed to be per-
fectIy satisfactory to them. When
the train pulled out from Ocala, how
ever, there was one person left behind
who did not look as tho he felt high
| ly elated at the number who were
leaving town, as so many were his
regular patrons and his boss rooter
and mascot were. both aboard.
The trip from Ocala to Homosassa
is certainly thru some beautiful
countryside miles of cultivated land
with apparently corn enough to feed
the stock of all the country looked
more like Kentucky of Illinois than
the Florida of the olden time when
the only crop was few boxes of or
anges. The beautiful Blue Springs so
} appropriately named, its waters be-
ing liquid sapphire, meandering
} down a picturesque valley of native
J. forests or grassy slopes, that will
some day attract thousands of tour
lists to admire its beauty, even as dc
the wonders of Colorado's Grand
/ Canyon, all tend to make the trip tc
Homosassa memorable one, and ther
{ when one arrives at the river and
finds themselves in a tropical grove
= of palmetto and massive live oaks
one is tempted to apply the language
= of some old philosopher who suggest
ed that one should should "see Rome
E and die" However the crowd thai
visited there yesterday was anything
r but a dead one.
The arrangements of the committe,
headed by the indefatigable Jake fol
the pleasure of their guests, wer,
absolutely perfect. A platform hat
s seats and piano dug up from some
s where and Prof. Booze was on han,
with his splendid Orchestra, among
whom are three lady performers
9 Miss Mary Gates piano, Miss Nc
h Jameson violin and Miss Mabel A4zi
# clarinet. The masculine performer
q were Messrs. c. E. Simmons, Ter
: Eyck, Durant, Needham, Hill, DIR. Nc
n Clane, Harry Cole and Laurie lila
+ This combination certainly made fin
a music, especially when rendering tn
% beautiful symphonies written b
n Prof. Booze.
~ After the morning concert Judg
.s Gober acted as chairman and in a fe
70 appropriate words introduced tt
,e speaker of the day, the Hon. HI. Y
,e Adams of Mayo. The address of NJ
to Adams was mainly to members of IL
Ie order but was punctured with sever
nt witty stories that were appreciate
n by the whole audience. The speak
er gave condensed history of the ord,
40 from its Inauguration 35 years ag
.d with a membership of six, till Il
81 present time when it numbers ov
100000, of which $4,000 are living
= Florida. He said that Woodmensh
was the last call in fraternal soci
ties, that the ritual of the order w
close kin to religion, that no Woo
man was allowed to lie in an u
known or unmarked grave, and final
asserted that no Woodman could
found in Hades. He wound up his a
dress by reciting a part of Tenn
sons Crossing the Bar.
The A. c. L. deserves mention f
its part of the entertainment T.
railroad certainly put on string
splendid cars and kept them W,
supplied with ice. The train al
made record time doing the trip ca
way in three hours, possibly ev
this might be improved on as the di
tance is only 48 miles, but it was mu
better than the regular schedU
which is four hours and 35 minute
Truly the fellow who said 'the wor
do move," never rode on the HON
sassa train.
Notes