Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1917-03-14
Florida.

By looking at the map of these
United States you find the state of
Florida hanging down into the sea
and gulf like an appendix-but no
useless appendix by any means. The
Bible in speaking of the members OF
the church compares it to the hu-
man body, where each part or or
gan serves the whole body and is
dependent on each other part for its
welfare-so may we say that each
of these United States serves the
whole and adds its peculiar function
to the general welfare especially
is this true, now that all these varied
states are knitted together with a
complicated net work of railroads
and telephones and telegraph-Flo-
rida is the winter play ground of
the United States, where an invalid
can in a few short hours pass from
the biting SHOWS of New England or
Virginia to the good old summer
time.
By looking into history you will
find that Florida was inhabited by
the Seminole Indians and latterly a
mixture of Indians and lot of all
sorts of pirates, robbers and fugitives
from justice. These people became
so lawless and plundered the good
people down there till old Hick-
ory'' Jackson was sent down there
to conquer these outlaws-this is
where Jacksonville gets its name.
After much fighting the Indians
were transferred West and Florida
became peaceable state as it now
is-a balmy, beautiful land of fruit,
flowers, fish and vegetables. After
leaving Jacksonville we passed
along the east coast on the Flagler
system of railroad, as Mr.. a. M.
Flagler put the east coast on the
map, and surely by this herculean
task of running a railroa1 over 500
miles long with hundred miles of
it in the sea. He is one man who
left this world better than he found
it. True, soma criticise Mr.. Flag
Ter for procuring a special act of
the Florida Legislature annulling
his marriage with his non-comphs-
mentis wife so he could marry a
young lady.
But most old men are alike in
this particular, he is not in class
to himself, and now his young
widow has married her original
sweetheart about of her own age,
and they are living in all the gran
deur of millionares at the magnifi-
cent winter Flagler home at Palm
Beach. There are many beautiful
points along the east coast, notably
at Augustine, Fernandina, and the
seat and centre of the present
fashionable set is Palm Beach. We
first reach West Palm Beach, a
larger commercial town on the coast.
The train then goes over the water
to the Palm Beach hotel on an island
owned by the Flagler system, a per-
feet Garden of Eden, and from here
pushes on to the bathing point and
hotel called The Breakers, where
the white caps roll their snowy
crests up against the sands of the
slanting beach. We saw hundreds
of men and women in those eve-like
fig-leaf costumes cut very low above
and very high below called bathing
suits, out in the warm sunlight en-
joying the great waves as they rolled
the imperious surge over these beau
tiful young ladies who found the
water delightfully."- warm.
Most of these ladies knew bow to
swim and were not afraid of the
water. To sit in the train at night
as it rolls along the bay at Palm
Beach, and see the brilliant lights
of the Royal Pvancianna Hotel all
reflected in the water, and the
brightly-lighted boats and yachts
all gliding about reminds one of
Venice. This place is filled with
rich northern people, who spend
from ten to fifty dollars day for
hotel bill, and a. the same time
have a private yacht out in the bay
at their service with cost of sever
al hundred dollars a day to keep up.
We heard of one man from Pitts
burg who brought his family down
in a private car, and the car was to
go back at once, but the baby had
not walked up. The railroad au-
thorities told the coal magnate that
if the car was left it would cost $50
day, all right" said the Pitts
a.