The Ocala banner., 1921-11-18

ago, is already many times as large
as Great Meadow in tiIlable land
ready for planting. and it's popula-
ton is only about half that at Great
Meadow.
The spirit of the place? All the
way from a city in central New York
had come poor woman, Hungarian
by birth-two nights and day on the
train-to see her son at Raiford, who,
with a companion, had been on the
previous day brought out to the prison
farm from Jacksonville to serve five
years for burglary The woman pass
ed the warden and me in a hired
car. as We journeyed slowly along in
our buggy, Take the lady TO my
house" said the warden to the chauf-
feur. Its the only real place we have,
till our Office is built he explained
to me-
AT his home, with a fine natural
courtesy. he called Mrs. Bitch to as
sist the poor crying woman to remove
her coat and to be comfortable. There
in the wardens home parlor she sat,
the woman who throughout thirty
six hours had been picturing to her
self high, stern, gray walls imprison-
ing her son. and Stern blue-coated Of
fcials paying Indifferent attention to
her plight And then we sat down
this woman, the warden, his wife, and
Ito bountiful dinner in the pleas
ant, simple home The eyes of the con-
vict's mother roved from the warden
and his sympathetic wife to the broad
| fields that for several years We're to
mean prison" to her boy. She had
the chance to pour forth her heart
| rending story of disgrace and woe,
the ruin of her hopes for her boy. The
little sisters keepin' company with
such nice man, and now when he
hears her brothers in prison-My
/ God, what'n he do?"
| The warden sent for the buggy to
take her to her boy, newly clad in
/ stripes within the stockade. | saw him
myself, when he was told by the
| warden that the mother was there,
| in Raiford His lips quivered. his
eyes went down to the ground, his
fingers dug into his palms, and he
kicked piece after piece of dirt slowly
with his foot.
When, late in the afternoon, it was
time for the only train back to Jack
sonville. Warden Bitch sent the
| mother to the station in the same
car that took me. As We rode along
she said: I'm going to soil out my
business. I'm coming down here to
wait during the years-for my boy!
And God bless that mantle warden
who said he'd look out for him
while he's there, and let me know If
anything happens to himi"
The spirit of the place? Part of it
| is clear TO the visitors view-in the
varied and useful agricultural indus
tries of the farm. They sent over
/ 21.000 eggs to Jacksonville during
January and several restaurants of
/ that city pay a fiat rate Of seventy
cents a dozen, the year round. Janu-
AIRY showed an increase of over eight
] thousand eggs over December.
One sees a reason for success, when
one hears. far OF in one corner of the
great plantation. the aged Negro at
one of the chicken colonies calling in
! wierdest waiIing the chickens to feed.
i The chickens flock by hundreds to the
/ dying corn. And the old Negro is all
aIone-the whole show You see
/ success in the multiplicity of trap
nests for registering each laying hen,
/ the bands on each hens leg, the care
/ ful records kept Of each hen in each
colony. the deliberate breeding of the
best hens on the basis Of egg produc-
ton and the like
/ You see thoughtful development Of
| these thousands of acres. in the plans
for great areas OF corn, OF rice,
Of grain. for this is uIoughing and
/ planting season at Raiford You see
ditching going on in various parts OF
the farm. isolated convicts ploughing
on broad fields, unattended, apparently
unmatched You visit huge smoke
house full OF fresh pork and hams, and
! beef. Every little while you pass
/ in the ear 4 herd Of black hogs SO
fat as to delight the sight. You see
coayicts hewing stumps TO pieces, and
I elsewhere you see the two retorts that
are squeezing some so WORTH Of
turpentine oils out Of each two cords
of otherwise useless wood. You come
/ upon enormous tracts Of land still IN
titled and growing the southern pine,
/ lending d striking contrast to the
cleared acres. on toward Ellenby is