The Ocala evening star., 1922-07-17
THE EAST COAST OF FLORIDA
XII.

During Monday and most of Tues
day, We made Fort Lauderdale our
base of operations, sallying therefrom
to nearby points Of interest, of which
Miami was the greatest, and Fort
Lauderdale itself the most homelike.
Many readers of the Star will re-
member the gifted society reporter it
had the three years previous to 1916
Miss Annie Atkinson, whose work
was of such quality as not only to
add great interest to the paper, but
was so favorably noted abroad that
she was offered a position on one of
the biggest dailies of the state. She
could have attained high place in
journalism, but preferred the most
useful and honorable of callings-an
American housewife. She married Mr..
Alfred ]. Beck, for years one of
Ocala's favorite druggists. and they
installed their household gods in Fort
Lauderdale, where they have one of
the most comfortable and dainty of
homes, which they have named sfThe
Atom" Being both a printer and an
admirer of jewels, I should have call
ed it "The Diamond Few Ocala
folk have forgotten Charles F. Flip
pen, the cheerful and industrious
young hardware man, and his charm
ing wife, formerly Miss Edna Culver
house. Our little party was enter
tanned by these two kindly young
families, during it's stay in Fort Lau-
derdale, and their hospitality was the
greatest charm of our East Coast
visit.
Monday morning, Mrs. Beck told US
to put our efficient but somewhat
shabby Ford in the garage. and she
took us to Miami in her own elegant
five-passenger car, which she handles
with as much dexterity as she once
did the pen which wrote so many kind
and interesting items about the people
of Ocala. Mrs. Beck is we'll acquaint-
ed with Miami and vicinity and show
ed us more in few hours than we
could have found for ourselves in as
many days.
The road from Miami to Fort Lau-
derdale is alone worth a chapter. It
passes thru naturally pretty coun-
try, to which the hand of man is
rapidly adding beauty and utility.
AS is well known, this part of the
East Coast is one of the greatest
truck growing sections in the world.
1t raises more produce than the rail-
than its own people can use, and yet
many carloads are left in the field be-
cause there is no disposition to make
of them. At Hallandale, little sta
ton below Fort Lauderdale, during
the omato-shipping season just clos
ed, an average of nineteen carloads
per diem were hauled away, which is
only a sample of the fertility of the
region.
We passed the site of the new city
of Hollywood, and observed that sew
eral substantial brick blocks were up
and others building. The new town
has a good location, and we see no
reason why it should not grow and
prosper.
The natural bridge near Arch Creek
is a place of fame and natural beauty,
but recently, to safeguard against
accidents, concrete walls have been
built at its sides, so unless, as in our
case, there is some one along to call
attention to it people might drive
over the bridge without knowing it
was natures handiwork.
"Ojus" in the Seminole tongue
means good, and the village of Ojus
looks up to its name. Fulford is
named after an old friend of mine,
captain of the as. V. White" one of
the staunchest boats that ever ran on
the Halifax and Indian rivers. Cap
tain Fulford's ship has crossed the
bar of eternity's ocean. and the people
of Fulford may take it from me that
their town is named after a good and
useful man.
At the end of vista shone a wide
sheet of blue water, which Mrs. Beck
told US was Biscayne Bay. It is named
after, but is as unlike as possible, that
ever-turbulent body of water that lies
between the coast of Southern France
and the Atlantic. 1t is a great en-
erald in silver setting, and no Amer
lean in quest of beauty needs to go
to the Bay of, Naples so long as he
can stay in his homeland and view
Biscayne Bay.
Then the houses grew thick and
high buildings loomed up ahead, and
we were within the bounds of Miami,
the Magic City of Florida, ihb.