Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1920-06-23
a Voice From the Land of the
Il Roses.

-
time, as locals are much more popu-
|lar than letters.
Some anglers went out the other
night to fish for a shark that had
been seen at the electric dock, and
a. Jewish was caught instead Of a
shark. 1t took three men thirty-ive
minutes to land it in the boat, and it
tipped the scales at 3S5 pounds. 1t
was given to the alligator farm, for
dinner next day. It took twenty-one
'gaters thirteen minutes to devour it.
You may call that "whopper," but
hpld on, I'll tell another. A logger
head turtle was caught in the bay
near Pass-a-Grille that weighed SGT
pounds. The parties gave it to the
fishing club there which was going
to have big fish-fry in honor of the
Salvation Army. l did not go but a
friend of mine did, and he said they
had turtle soup all over that town.
Now that is another "whopper" you
will say. Well, Pm not through yet.
II took a boat ride to Tampa last
Tuesday. Some negroes were grub
bing and cleaning off jungle near
the city. A six-foot rattle snake
struck big fellow in the face, sink
ing his fangs deep in his cheek, and
him down. He died in two
hours. These are "whoppers" never
stheless they are facts.
i Tampa is a big city of $4,000 souls
and l am told that two thirds of the
population are aliens, from every ma
stion, tribe and cline. don't wonder
aft so many strikes. Twelve cigar fac
tories here have been on a strike for
forty days. Tampa is strictly a busi-
NESS city. No tourists, stop here for
the winter. The streets are narrow,
and withal, it is dirty city. AS I
have said before, st. Petersburg is
the cleanest and prettiest town that
;I9have ever seen and more accomo-
Idations for the travelling public
than 4 have noticed in any other city.
OF a farming section by.
any-means. Some few small truck
patches. But it is Gods country. The
air is soft and balmy, the sea breeze
from the bay on the east and the gulf
on the west, makes one feel glad and
strong.
There are two flowing sulphur
wells in the city. One on the north
and the other on the south side. l
suppose these are the springs that
Ponce de Leon looked for in 1913
and never found
The first drink that I took held
my breath as long as could, but oh
my! what a bad taste! I hardly knew
what had swallowed, a rotten egg or
a pole cat, but if you will hold your
breath thirty or forty minutes after
drinking you won't mind the taste
or smell afterward.
The fruit crop has been gathered
and sold. The orange and grape fruit
crop was indeed good in this section.
My brother has patch of cotton on
one of his lots. The only cotton patch
that l have seen since I have been
in the state. He planted the seed on
the28th of March, it is now, June Ia,
breast high and full of fruit from the
ground to the top. A friend of his
sent him the seed from South Caro-
lima and he planted them to see what
it would do down here. So far, it is
ahead Of any cotton plant that | have
ever seen the middle of June.
He had eight rows of celery in his
garden twenty feet long. From these
eight rows he sold eighty dollars
worth and had all he wanted for his
own family. To prove these big fish,
turtle, snake and celery tales, I'll re-
fer you to the two papers printed in
this city, The Times and The lnde-
pendent, and everybody knows that
the editor of a paper never writes
anything but stubborn facts. See?
Once more and Pm done. Upon the
highest elevation in the city is a
shell mound, said to be prehistoric.
The oldest man in the city told me
that he supposed it had been there
five or six hundred years. They are
oyster shells such as have never been
seen in the bay or gulf. They will
measure from three to eight inches