The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1921-04-15
A LITTLE LETTER FROM
FLORIDA.
st. Petersburg, Fla.
Anil 4 1o01

April /, 1921
Dear Midland" Readers
Uncle Samuel Hambleton has put
our party to shame by his frequent
notes to the home paper. He has
evidently enjoyed his winter in
Florida, but we rise to remark that
he has had no better time than we
have enjoyed. Leaving Rising Sun Dec.
ord, we came by the good ship Juniata
from Baltimore to Jacksonville, most
delightful trip, and that includes a night
of real ocean storm and sea-sickness.
St. Petersburg is as miles south of
Jacksonville, 1000 miles from Baltimore.
1t has an all year population of 10000,
and the winter tourists number 10000.
Twenty years ago it was village with a
few dozen houses and not foot of paved
walks or streets. Today it has 81 miles
of streets paved with hard bricks. and 100
miles of sidewalk paved with cement
blocks.
has q Band Stand surrounded with sit
tings for 10000 people. The band has
given two fine concerts day since the
18th of January. In the same park are
lanes" for the horse shoe and QUOT
pitchers, courts for the rogue players. and
tables for the players of dominoes.
checkers and chess. Many hundreds OF
the men are found at these games every
day, and they seem to have a big time.
Fishing is one Of the big sports down
here. The waters are full of fish. Now
don't ask me how many l caught. Uncle
Sam says he saw 1000 people on the piers
fishing but caught none. | never saw
that many fishing on the piers. but have
seen them catch piles of good 6sh-just
now they are catching mackereI. Many
of the folks come home bringing FIVE and
ten each. weighing from one to FIVE lbs.
Our big fishermen go out in boats into
Tampa Bay or the Gulf of Mexico and
land the big 6sh-Red Snapper. Groupers.
Drum and King fish, these run from ten
to thirty lbs. each. This is the fishing
that sets men . crazy"
Rents are rather high all over Florida.
That's because there is such food OF
folks who scoot South these winters. We
have comfortable apartment for our
party OF four, and have done our own
housekeeping. Food here is very rea.
sonable in price, and the Cafete,ias the
best and cheapest have ever seen.
The churches of this town are thriving
institutions. They are large but are
crowded at every service; most of the
time it was necessary to go an hour
ahead Of time to make sure of getting in.
One Sunday morning we went TO our
third church before we could get in.
Then these churches minister largely to
the intellectual and social life of the
throngs of away-from. homes. They have
great lectures, musicals, recitals and So
Gals. AS rule the only admission fee
is free-will offering.
The greatest thing the Florida folks
have is their winter climate. They cut it
in chunks and sell 1t to Northerners. Il
is fine and worth buying. Not one day
Of all rain since we landed in early Dec.
The sun has shone every day. The rains
come generally at night. dash down hard.
and are soon over. After suffering sever.
ely with colds in our northern winter /
have not had real cold all winter. No
wonder SO many folks advanced in years
and others who are not very we'll are
found rusticating in Florida during the
winter. The weather has been such that
we have lived on our porch, in the park
OF other out of doors all winter. We
bathed in the Gulf of Mexico in January
and February.
eTo be continued)