Year: 1875

]


more housesi in the sand-and the train stops


We look out at the brown, weather-beaten
wall Of an old, dilapidated station house, but
can see nothing else. Everybody gets up
and clutches for carpet bags, bundles, and
canes so We inquire what place this is.
Cedar Keys says a countrymou, taking a
paper parcel from the rack. We, too, go
out on the platform and ask the brakeman,
as we stretch our cramped and weary limbs,
Where is the hotel g." Round thar,
num-" he replies pointing toward one end
Of the low, diapidated building, which is at
once freight and passenger depot and express
office. Our two porters now interfere,
/ but we bid them look after the others, and
picking our way along the treacherous plat
form, we go down fight Of crazy steps to
the sand, through which we wade a hundred
yards to a hard walk and then straggle on
10 the Exchange hotel. The rooms seem
close and unclcan, and everything is out Of
order so we try the other hotel-the Gulf
House. 1t is but little better than the other,
yet we conclude TO take up our quarters
there. At either hotel the guest will wish
he had stopped at the other. One may be
less bad than the other, but neither is super
auously good.


The houses straggle along a single street,
then up small hill opposite the railroad
station, and then straggle out over the hill.
The town is set down as having five hun
dred inhabitants perhaps it has. It's chief
productive industries seemed TO me to be
fishing and sponging. Considerable guam
| titles Of sponge are brought here from va
| rous places along the coast and exchanged
| for the commodities usually found in a coun-
try store. The town gets its name from a
| group Of small islands, on one Of which it is
situated, and they are named from the guam
] titv Of red cedar found here and shipped
from this port. Faber's mill is on one Of
these islands, and from this he obtains the
wood with which his famous lead pencils are
made.


I The next morning was very foggy, and
| ten o'clock came before we were greeted
with a prospect of getting off the island.
Then the fog lifted suddenly disclosing a
steamer lying off the shallow harbor With
pleasant haste and glad hearts we bid
adieu TO our hostess at the hotel for we
I found it was run by woman and 60 on
/ board the small steamer which acts as a
/ lighter, and takes us off 10 the large one
/ awaiting our advent. The ride was one
/ long to be remembered ! wish, reader, you
/ could look through the eyes Of my memory
| and see it as saw it Our little boat sped
l along through mimic waves the fog was
entirely gone. The air was pure and brac-
| ing, but soft and balmy--not like any air in
Vermont, but giving some promise Of the
tropics toward which the course Of our boat
now lay. The green isles and islets We're all
about US; ON one was Faber's saw-mill,
/ surrounded with a pile Of logs which would
delight the heart Of any mill owner in Yer
mont-timber enough, one would think, to
make all the pencils which the world will
require for a century. On another was the
clear cut tower Of lighthouse, with its
crownng lantern. Some were just few
feet above the water; one was only black
looming rock in the distance; others rose to
the height Of perhaps fifty feet, forest
crowned The air was full Of strange birds,
gulls, pelicans, curlews, cormorants ployer
and others, wading or standing in the shall
lows or on the ssnd-bars, flying through the
air, darting into the water for prey, perched
on the buoys and floats, they gave variety
and animation TO a scene which exists in
my mind as one Of the brightest in all my
southern travels. dozen miles like this
brought US to the steamer aboard which We
scrambled. Our baggage was hoisted out Of
the little boat into the big one, and with a
parting scream from the steam whistles, the
ponderous walking-beam Of our boat began
slowly its motion, which was kept up, with
clock-like regularity, until We were anchored
off Key West


1t is eleven o'clock of Saturday and we
are fairly embarked on the bosom Of the
great American gulf. Our course is due
south for more than three hundred miles


The water is smooth, and but for the long
divergent lines OF foam and ripples made by
the steamer, the eye can look into its depths


and see even the tiny inhabitants at theii


sports. The warm airs fan the cheek. Th'
temperature is delicious Lounging owe


the rail or reclining on the seats the after
noon goes by in dream, and night come


down in cloudless sunset with warm flush


ings Of daylight streaming up after the SUI


is down. 1t is blush on the cheek Of even


ing Soon the stars come out-the large, bol,
ones first, and last the tiniest little twinklers


The sky above and the reflected sky beneatl


are resplendent with the glory Of thousand


of created worlds. Silence is all about u


save the breathings Of our engine and tn


steady throbs of its great heart as our vessc


plows its way through the stars below an


under the stars above. At last the grea
warm moon swings lazily and heavily u


from the east the lesser stars disappear, an
there is track through the water MOI
bright than FURNISHED silver, fringed with
border of spangles and gems the proude,


queen Noulu Bloil in--Ai Nithout lllc
and for the most careless gazer- Luxur
ating in the balmy air, the moonlight an
starlight, and all the soft, bewitching inilr
ences of the delicious temperature, whi
wonder that it is midnight before We awaB
r 10 ourselves and bethink us of sleep, an
the SHOWS and frosts aud piercing winds eve


now cnyeloping ournatiye northern Vermont
| The next day, Sunday, was not so calm
beautiful. The sky was overcast all the da
4 long and there was breeze enough to brea
[ the surface into little waves. A part Of Il
E time we were out of sight Of land, thoug
/ most of the voyage a line of low land skirtt


the eastern horizon. The day passed wit
out incident, and from one day at sea il
y easy to see how long voyage becomes e
. tremely monotonous. Night came dow
q gray and dark and shut us closely in wit
out stars or moon. About nine o'clock '
( heard the cry, "light ahead and we SOC
a learned that It was Key West. The lig
e was plainly visible, glimmering over Il
o water like a star that had come down throul
h the cloudy canopy to warn us of rocks al
@ sandbars. But the light was all that cou
| Al 4 4 4