The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1919-07-04

F. e. Harris, ESQ,
My deasKSir:
You akked me to write now and
then. Nhave / forgotten the way
you mad she request Yours was
the voice Ia friend, and it comes
ba.k to ms now after many weeks
of pain ands health. 1t comes back
to me acrosSxihe continent three
thousand miles from you and dear old
Florida and als I love. Since then,
dear friend, Nave drifted to this other
bright corners9k the world, and but
yesterday saESaAd gazed upon the
waters of the WESTERN ocean. Yet on
that bright days1 old Pacific gave
no hint of her Eoundiess sweep, for
only half milef9pt she brooded un-
der thick baIilk of fog, while the
thousands aboutMh upon her shore
burnt in the mid 4ftefnoon summer
sun. and disported themselves In her
spray and her saDsls under cloud
less skv. 49,
But when / gaze upon that scene
it was not long fstf sme to think OF
those thousands win no familiar face
to greet my view, nor to picture in
nv imagination the Mysteries of those
remote regions wastl&d by those same
tides. / was littIH concerned with
that gay throng, nofssdid my thoughts
drift across that glyM ocean to con-
template the strange peoples and he
wonders and he beatHes on its fur
Their shores. for "mysykart turns back
to Dixie" to those k4now and love
from whom / have new departed for
the time in the hope or finding health.
With these little BOWS of senti-
ment and with this Feeble acknowl'
edgement of our long friendship 1
can now better complMwith your re-
quest by giving You Qme express
sions about tire greats6ountry Of the
northwest.
Having begun this batter with ref
erences to the Pacific fwill first give
you. some account Of things here
abouts and for fear ofskiring you now
will at another time IVite of condi-
tions in the vast en5tire that lays
between us. The spleHdor and mag
nifcence of this ciryssand its sur
towns and c&antry are af-
ter all but another trihFte to the in
domniable energy ana @untless spir-
it of the western pioneer, who found
it cut off from the eastern world by
700 miles of desert kand mountains
and with no green SCOT or oasis to
then even family sug& lest as possibili-
ties the splendid rea&ies of today.
With no native fruits 10 game to in
vite or support prim I've man, with
few streams and Wildly inadequate
there now spt$pds before Us
a view of almost troI' cal splendor,
improved by art, and tn the added
attractions of every convenience that
modern civilization cahebring.
Along these splendid and dustless
roads stretching in &ery direction
one may rapidly yiewfvast fields OF
exotic fruits and treeszthe very seeds
of which were but lAely brought
from the other corneHS Of the world.
Here they flourish Wherever the re-
luctant waters can be- commanded 70
gush forth upon the erstwhile un-
fruitful desert; and bX the same pro-
cess there is spread before you vast
grain fields and beautiful homes
nestled in green trees with little to
suggest the barrens and uninvfting
past.
Here is reversed he destiny of
Babylon. and the grapes of Smyrna,
the oranges of Sicily and the cotton
Of Egypt are here cutrivaled. The
sands of Cobb are transformed into
the Gardens of Cofdova and over
what was once Sahara wastes is
waited the fragrance OF ''The Gar
dens of Gull in her bloom"
Sincerely,