Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1926-09-30
CONTINUED from Last Week.
Rx MRS. LON DIcKEY


town you may expect q good hotel
but would you believe your eyes i
you saw . lovely three-story hotel o.
Spanish architecture set In deser
of saw grass and water?
We proceeded south from Bartov
through the loveliest rolling hills
dottedswith lakes and virgin pine for
ests, with here and there an orang,
grove. through the, pretty towns o:
Avon Park. Sebring and LAX,
Stearns. Near the latter we wer.
stopped for awhile for road construc
ton, and nice little red-cheekee
country boy told us If we woule
climb the hill to our left we would
find "tar" from which we could SEE
seventeen lakes.
/ "Mama. what is a 'tar?'" Marcis
whispered.
"He means tower. child" I re-
piled. The hill was too steep ane
sandy, and we thought we had te
make West Palm Beach by nightfal
to get decent hotel Anyway, from
where we were we could see two
large slakes,a and thessan like - round
baA< of fire reflected, ain then< was
beautiful, with sthe surrounding stress
reflected around the edges.
We soon came to the end of the
road, at Lake, Anne, where ended the
rolling hills and forests, and a splen.
did road( the cross country highway
turned into the everglades toward the
east. l hesitate to say how fast we
went for awhile, think the record
was sixty-seven miles in as many
minutes. For once / almost failed to
enjoy a beautiful sunset.
Gle Howell was driving, and I re-
called his wonderful recordsin .aEnbu-
lance driving in France, his citation,
signed by Marshal Petain. But those
folks were dead-or nearly so-and
we might be-if some little piece Of
machinery slipped its mornings and,
mercy! what a place to die in, moth
ing but saw grass and water, a rosy
sunset and the distant horizon.
We approached a great bridge
where work was going on, and our
conductor slowed down.
Near the bridge. wass a. construction
camp, the; ;watersnowshalf-way, up the
first story of the frame shacks., Gle
said he spent a night there once with
a cousin who is a civil engineer, and
if the Lord would help him to get out
he would never spend another night
in the Everglades! Already we could
hear the hum of mosquitoes mar
shaling their forces for a night at
tack. s3sg
1 argued that all the wild things in
the Everglades came out at night
and 'crept over Connors Highway,
over which we had to pass, and that
we might stay in Okeechobee City
that there must be good hotel there.
Gle said he would be sorry for the
gump who would put his money in a
hotel in that place.
But, here we are. We have en-
joyed such a dinner as we might get
on Broadway, and are seated in a
softly-carpeted lobby reading by
rose-shaded lamps and listening to
Grand Opera selections on the Vic
trola, with many other guests, young
civil engineers, men, women and
children, travellers like ourselves. On
the plate glass windows outside the
mosquitoes are, lined up, looking,
hungrily in. There is party around
the corner, and lady has just passed
in a white satin evening gown, fight
ing mosquitoes. The young folks are
not investigating for once. We have
lovely rooms, with baths.
Noon, Cafe in Fort Lauderdale,
Sept. LIST. Having lunch, seeing
folks from home, many empty busi-
ness houses here. Spent the night
here five years ago, and do not care
for the place, but it has the best
Chamber of Commerce I have ever
seen, and the results are seen in its
marvellous growth. Going over to
the Ocean Boulevard at Hollywood
and spend night at Miami Beach so
as to miss congested traffic on Dixie
Highway leading into Miami.
Night, Miami Beach. We have
lovely rooms with baths, windows
with bright awnings overlooking the
ocean, but for less than half what
we have had to pay other places.
have been trying to find what is
wrong with them, but have found
nothing. Lovely Roney Plaza is just
back of US, closed for summer. The
young folks are in surf bathing with
the crowds around a casino. We
prefer to rest and let them investi'
gate again.
The ride along the Ocean Boule'
ward was indescribable, when the sur
shines the water is lovely blue
green, so different from our coast
water, but the storm of month age
has left its trace, and the paved road:
are badly washed.
To begin with, we had to pay $500
to ride over Connors Highway tc