The Oskaloosa herald., 1915-05-06
mo PLACE LIKE HOME
So Says Mrs. Beach After Their
Extensive Travels.

Editors of the Herald Thinkin
our friends will be interested in tn
last half of our trip, which was spen
in the Sunny South as much a
they were in the first half, whic
was through the New England an
the other eastern states and as ia
south as Jacksonville, Fla. and whicl
was described by Mrs. Beach in
letter to Mrs. Soseman which wa
published in the Herald of Feb. %, il
my motive for writing this letter.
We arrived in Jacksonville via At
lantic Coast Line R. r. from Savan
nah. Ca, Jan. s, 1915. At the latter
city we we're walking in the south
ern part of the city on our way out
to the noted Jasper Spring CnameC
after Sergeant Jasper of Revolution
airy fame) in company with an old
Federal soldier and his wife, Mr.. and
Mrs. Charles Specie of Marion, Ohio,
who we're spending the winter in Sa
vannah, and Mr.. Specie was here
with Gen. Sherman on his famous
march. AS we approached a cross
street he said, at this point the
mayor of Savannah came out to meet
Sherman and begged him to spare
Savannah. Sherman told him If
they would acquit themselves like men
he would not destroy their city, and
thus il was saved The house is
still standing in Savannah where
Shermans headquarters were while
here.
We visited the Seaboard Airline
docks while here which are on an
island and cover about forty acres.
We were shown by the general agent.
Mr.. Ream. the immense quantity of
naval stores. He said there were
100000 bales of cotton stored in the
warehouses there; 20 to 30 carloads
of snuff; 100000 tons of cotton seed
cake to be exported to Europe to feed
to the horses and soldiers of the ar
mics there; 100 cars of sugar, and
thousands of tons of fertilizer: 10000
bbls. of turpentine; 100000 bbls. of
resin and millions of feet of lumber:
and ships there from a number of for
eign countries loading. There was
one large German vessel that would
remain there until the war ends
At Jacksonville one of the principal
sights for the tourist is the ostrich
farm. They have over 100 ostriches. |
One of them they hitched in shafts to
a buggy Thy first blindfolding) then
a man got into the buggy, took hold |
OF the lines and they removed the |
blindfold and away they went An |
other bird was ridden in like manner |
and seemed to carry a l50-lb man
with ease.
The next attraction was the balloon |
ascension anu parachute jump. The
balloon went up 1000 feet and at the |
crack of the gun the parachute was
cut loose and down they came para |
chute ana man, but the parachute |
failed to open and the poor fellow lit |
in the cemetery making a hole in the |
ground foot or more in depth and |
breaking every bone in his body. He
was said to be young man of IS (
years, who was to have received i
$500, and under an assumed name,
as he had promised his mother not
to go up. The next was a nicely ex-
ecuted biplane flight The machine
arose from the waters of st. Johns
river, described a circle OF two or
three miles and lit in the water again
and fioated TO shore.
Jacksonville is a live city of (they
told u.s. 10000 population. They have
fifteen banks, three of which have a
capital stock of $1,000, 10000 each. |
One of them the Herd National Bank,
is in the Herd building which is an of
fee building thirteen. stories high.
We had a good view of the city from
the top of this building. The govern
ment has expended a large sum of
money in making deep water barber
here and now the largest ocean 60 Il
ing vessels come up the ST Johns
river to the jacksonville docks. Six
teen miles west of here is Baldwin,
three miles north of which is a large i
tract of four or more sections of land 4
belonging to Mr.. James Reynolds. of 4
Oskaloosa and Mr.. Jess Pulliam, of
Jacksonville. We spent a day riding L
over 1t, and found 1t to be as nice
laying land as any we saw in Florida Il
Homer and sister, Miss Lois Rey- 4
nolds. live on the land and are i'm
proving it. Homer had out quite
field of cabbage then in January, and
fine garden of vegetables ready for
the table. U
January 20. we went to St. August \
inc, some 40 miles south of Jackson
vile. II has population of 1000 or
more, and is the oldest town in the Il
United States. Here are located two of i
the finest hotels of the Flagler Sys- /
tef, the Ponce De Leon and the Alcas-
ar, built at cost OIL several million |
dollars. This is a picturesque little
city with it's old slave market still t
standing and its old Spanish fort |,
marine built when the lana belonged
TO Spain. We we're in dungeons und.
er this fort where were FOUND the
skeletons of people of unknown ma
tionality who had been chained there
and the door laid up with stone and
mortar SO that il was not discovered |
until many years after II became part |
OF the United States. 4
The famous Fountain of Youth"
which Ponce De Leon came here in
search Of, they would have you be- |
lieye is still in existence, but whose
location has changed several times in |
the last half century. But the old |
Spanish built city Gateway is still |
standing. Here the cabbage palm |
trees are beautiful and many other |
semi-tropical trees and shrubs. Here
the temperature does not often get |
far below thp freezing noiuf The