The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-03-29
Louise Murphy Tallevast in Braden-
town Herald

Florida" was written by Louise Muir
ply Tallevast and read before the
Woman's Club in this city last Fri
day afternoon. This paper. with sew
peared in The Herald. are published
by request, for the benefit of mem
bers who were not fortunate in be-
ing present at the meetings. and also
because of the information they con
tain which may be of interest to
many of our winter visitors who are
thus enabled to learn more of the
beautiful Land of Manatee, and the
Land of Flowers
Ladies, if you please, let us for a
moment carry ourselves back in
memory four hundred and three
years ago-to one sensibly declining
in years and strength, desiring to
obtain a fresh lease of youthful Wig
or and enjoyment, and after having
sailed and sailed as winds might
blow, made landing on an island of
area of about 1856 square miles
So delighted was this romantic old
Cavalier, John Ponce de Leon, with
the green verdure and Towering
glades which opened upon his view,
he gave to this supposed island the
name Of Florida.
When De Leon saw before him
evergreens of every description and
luxuriant foliage which covered it's
soil and hung in rich masses along
the banks of it's streams, and the
pleasant equability of its climate, he
was extremely happy. for he then
believed that his long thought
thoughts of a Fountain of Youth not
a mere fable, but real, and that he
had at last found the place of restor-
alton of youthful vigor. And as the
pendulum of time has swung slowly
by. Florida, kissed by sunshine and
lulled by breezes, has become the
fascinating Florida that you see she
is today.
The location of Florida with re-
spect to water surroundings is
charming, almost beyond description.
On the East we have the grand old
Atlantic ocean. South and West the
Gulf of Mexico. These provide
wealth of view with ever varying
changes in sea and sky that one will
not grow weary of Watching; the
storms black clouds, the brillancy
of the rainbow's colors, the rosy
CLEAN of the opening day or the
glints of the gold in the Western
sky. Who of you have stood at even
tide and watched the white billowy
ocean, or listened to what the wild
waves were saying, without growing
more noble from gazing upon the
handiwork of God?
hSiS 10 S"SiSty hCiO ihti uuNo,
By the deep sea, and music in it's
roar.
! love not man the less, but nature
more.
Roll on, thou deep, blue ocean, roll,
Ten thousand fleets sweep DER thee
in vain.
5s'&sa
Before | proceed with the descrip-
ton of the natural beauties of our
state, am going to presume that
you will be interested in the descrip-
ton of my childhood home. This
was on my fathers ranch, twenty
five miles south of Bradentown, now
owned by my father and Mrs. Potter
Palmer, the wife of Chicago's great
financier, this being one of the most
picturesque places in the state
'sxa
It's the great, broad Miakka out yon-
der,
With its palms, where silence has
lease;
It's the beauty that thrills me with
wonder,
It's the stiffness that fills me with
peace.
Would that could paint this
beautiful scene with my eye, for in
the distance from the eye, through
the arm, so much of the beauty is
lost. But suppose you go into your
hothouses and look at your treasured
palms and ferns-now imagine them
in quadruple quantities growing in
beautiful abundance everywhere,
then you will see in mind the picture
| would paint for you. Only in my
real picture you can see great masses
of palmettoes, holding aloft their
pointed spears; then the long flats,
as soft and green as the best-kept
lawn; and further on a lovely lake
covered by a blanket Of water lilies;
and still further on you can see, the
Miakka river, capricious in its out
line-sometimes wide and resembling
the more noted rivers On the banks
are to be seen the spreading water
oaks, with Spanish moss HANGING
from each limb. On still further is
the sentinel pine with crown Of