Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1926-09-23
SEEING FLORIDA IN SEVEN DAYS

and throughout Florida, lnclude GRIM
SON hibiscus, single and double, of
which we. have one sample in the
park below the Lee-Grant Hotel; and
the yellow. velvety poisoning ala
manda, as we'll as oleanders in many
shades. Where vine can be grown
it is the bouganvillea, with its mass
of American-Beauty shaded blossoms.
We have many things just as beauti-
full. except that we do not cultivate
them in such profusion, and do not
give them the care they should have.
It is a pity these do not bloom for
their winter visitors, but then per-
son who has to stay in Florida the
year round should have some COM
pensations suppose. The little Jack
Pines they plant along their road
sides are most attractive, and one
drive is like Christmas Tree Avenue
in Altadena, California.
We proceeded from there around
the entire peninsular, seeing Largo,
Bellair, Clearwater, Dunedin and
Dunedin Isles, which are being built
out in the water. Look out. Do you
remember Sidney Lanier's poem, "a
Florida Ghost" written away back
in 1877? To look upon those isles
one is reminded of it's beginning:
"Down mildest shores of milk-white
sand,
BY cape and fair Floridian bay,
'Twixt billowy pines-a surf asleep
And the great Gulf at play"
But farther on the ghost-which
might not be all ghost-appears to
the immortal poet, and recites this
tale:
"Some year or more ago, / s'pose,
I roamed from Maine to Floridy,
And, see where them palmetties
grow?
| bought that little key.
Well, sir, I went to work in style:
Bought me steamboat, loaded it
With my hotel (piazzers more'n a
mileD
Already framed and fit.
Insured 'em, fetched 'em safe around,
Put up my buildin', moored my
boat,
Complete! then went to bed an slept
as sound
| AS if I'd paid note.
Now on that very night squall
Cum up from some eres-some bad
place!
An blowed an tore an reared an
| pitched, an all
I had to run a race
Right out O. bed from that hotel
An git to yonder risin' ground,
For twixt the sea that riz and rain
that fell
putty nigh wuz drowned!
An thar / stood till mornin' cum,
Right on yon little knoll of sand,
Frequently wishin' l had stayed to
hum
Fur from this tarnal land. "A
When mornin' cum I took good
Long look, an sir-sure's I'm me,
That boat laid right whar my hotel
had stood,
And hit had gone to sea!
No, I'll not keep you-good-bye,
friend.
Don't think about it much. Per-
haps
Your brain might git to see-sawin'
and end
Like them asylum chaps.
For here I walk forever more
A-tryin' to make it gee,
How one same wind could blow my
ship to shore
An my hotel to seal!
So, while these gulf shores are al
luringly beautiful, as are also the
towns along them which / have
named, I do not crave an isle-one
of the Dundin Isles-for my own use.
The Galveston flood, only few years
after this poem was written, is fur
Their proof that the gulf can do other
things besides play.
We are going in to Tampa again,
not over Candy Bridge, but the old
way which was sixty-fve miles from
St. Petersburg, to Tampa, and which
this great engineering feat has les
sened to fifteen miles. Taking this
into consideration, who would mind
the toll, and besides who would miss
this marvellous ride across the water!
Sarasota Terrace. Night, August
3Oth.-This is a lovely hotel. We
have rooms on the fifth floor, over
looking Sarasota Bay. The young
folks are all out investigating the
town and taking in the moving pic
lures. They can always furnish
list, of the home folks who have
moved to these towns and what they
are doing, as we'll as all other things
of interest.
We are having just now terrific
+brnda, c+orro and the lightning has