The Punta Gorda herald. [volume] (Punta Gorda, Fla.) 1893-1958, 1919-11-27
LIFE IN FLORIDA LIFTS
THE WEIGHT OF YEARS
HOMESTBADING EXPERIENCE OF
EPISCOPAL CLERGYMAN
After Seven Years in the State Tells
of its Natural AdvantaSes-Best
Climate on Earth, He Says

A recent issue of the Times-Union
reports that among callers OF the
Office of the State Marketing Bureau,
was Rev. ]. B. Blanchet, of Upcohall,
formerly an Episcopal rector in Phil
adelphia, Pa, who came to Florida
seven years ago. In talk about
why he made the change from the
comforts of the big city to new sec
ton of the country he said:
Il was beginning to feel the
weight of years, and having noted
how the old men were crowded out
in the cities and relegated to oldage-
dom, all because the years had made
a certain tally against them.
Every city and town has it's quota of
men still vigorous and capable, but
who pathetically accept the bugaboo
dictum of being too old, victims to
artificial and conventional codes, and
dress, speak and act in accordance
with the they say standard.
ut took some determination on
my part to make the change, to take
off my dress up clothes and put on
overhauls and get out into the woods
along a Southern Florida river, but l
revived my youth in doing it. 1t
would be too long a story to tell of
the hard work with hoe and plow
during the last seven years, but
every night brought refreshing sleep,
,and I feel that l am on the road to
the hundredth milestone in the jour
ney of life.
Ponce de Leon looked for the
fountain of youth. / have found it
in the free air of Florida, where
every day is a benediction, In all
reforms the path-blazer must lead
the way. Show the possibilities, and
prove the claim to prolonged young
ness instead of oldness. l have good
air to breathe, pure water to drink,
and good things to eat from my own
garden and trees every day of the
year, produced by my own labor.
Coal and clothing bills do not trou
Bile me in the winter time. / have
oranges and strawberries ripe in the
open air when the hills of Pennsyl-
vania are covered with snow and
the rivers thick with ice. When I
need ice can buy the kind made in
factory, cleaner and purer than north
ern river ice.
Florida has the best climate in
the United States. Warmth is the
prime factor in the growing of vege-
tation. Florida has plenty of water,
in rainfall, on the surface and under
ground. Water is another prime
factor, as it constitutes large part
of everything that grows. All that
Florida needs is the man to take
advantage of these bounties of ma
ture, and our superior location with
portation to the world and to the
markets of the United States. Flor
ida will produce everything necessa-
ry feed and clothe the people, be-
sides having climate where they
can be comfortable all the year
round.
Our good bishop. Philip Brooks,
once said: The care of the body and
the care of the soul are not two du-
ties, but two parts of one duty If
there is a place on earth where body
and soul can harmonic it is in Flor
ida. Here is warmth and sunshine,
wide seas all about us, bright stars in
the night time, and singing birds |
If man will do his duty to himself
and his neighbors, it will be well
with him on earth and in the great
hereafter.
"The crying need of the day is not !
to lift material to build forty-story |
Office buildings, but to lift the level |
of human character. Not the men |
to add so much to our quantity of |
goods as to deepen the quality of our
living, in which we can all have full !
share. BY common interest in good
living, by honest cooperation antag-
onisms vanish, and we become work
ers for God and humanity.