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THE SOUTHERN WORLD, NOVEMBER 1,1882.
HOME LIFE Ilf FLOBIDA.
IT BILIM HABCOUBT.
JVM Paper.
“ What Will It Cost? ’•
Hid we not, in oar article entitled “The
Orange Groves of Florida," published In the
issues of the Soctbibi Wobld of June 15th
and July 1st, of the current year,—had We
not ben, we repeat, given full details as to
the “making" and value of groves of this
topular fruit, such a description would have
fitted in just here; but having done so, we
will (bearing in mind the Bible warning
against "va'n repetitions"), merely refer our
readers to those issues, for all that they need
to know on that subject, until they come to
put its details in actual practice, and then
any further necessary knowledge may be
gleaned from neighbors, or from any relia
ble book on orange culture or Florida
fruits.
Passing by then, as an accomplished fact,
all instructions on the orange question, we
will proceed at once to the discussion of how
to make a home.
We do not mean a house, we have already
discussed that matter, but a real, true home.
One may have a very fine house, fitted with
every comfort, and with gorgeous furniture
and beautiful grounds, and yet it may ut
terly lack that repose and harmony and sen
sation of "coziness" without which a true
heart-satisfying home cannot be made any
where, even if all the members of the fam
ily that occupy it, are genial, good natured
and affectionate, and as every one knows
these qualities are so important that with
out them, there can be no home life at all,
but only a restless unhappiness, and a pas-
aionato longing for peace and kindly fellow
ship.
They make up three-fourths of a home, it
Is true, and with them one may be happy,
even with the most incongruous surround
ings, but still there will be a sensation of
“ something wanting.”
There are costly houses scattered all over
the country, elegantly furnished and full of
luxury, but the moment you are ushered
Into their drawing-rooms where the expen
sive furniture is carefully swathed in cold
looking linen, and books, if not altogether
absent, are because of their handsome bind
ings—practically labeled “ touch not, handle
not," being stowed away under glass covers,
to be seen, not read: you feel a chill sense of
uneasiness, and draw a sigh of relief, as you
pass out again into the free, untrammelled
air.
Again, there are snug little cottages all
about us, where every apartment, though
furnished in the plainest manner, conveys
an idea of comfort, ease and home.
Now, though we have few very fine
houses, as yet, in Florida, we find this same
difference in full existence; we have seen*
houses well built, with large rooms, halls
and piazzas, and all necessary furniture, the
dwelling places of wealthy people, which
conveyed not the faintest touch of that home
feeling so dear to us all; we have seen the
same thing in other houses, where the owners
had dwelt for years and yet, bad not planted
a tree, nor, vine nor flowers around them;
where chickens and pigs roamed In and out
of the house at will, in and under the beds
and tables; sometimes a broken down rail
fence suffices to keep cattle at a respect
ful distance from the house, but often the
bouse is dropped down in the piney woods
without any fence at all.
We passed such a house as the latter one
day (our conscience forbids us to call it a
home), and a woman arrayed in one scanty
garment, a "kaliker” dress, was singing
over the wash-tub near the door, while a sow
and three of her progeny were visible from
our point of view, a saddle inside the narrow
entry; at the door half inside, were a cow
and calf, and roosting contentedly on the
window-sill were a half dozen chickens.
The woman nodded at us with the custom
ary " Howdy I" and we rode on with a won
der, and a half sigh—the wonder at the evi
dent contentment of that woman under such
a state of existence,and the half sigh because
some of the rest of us could not be content
with it also; it involved so little work and
■o little expense, at least, until our groves
eome into profit, for that little significant
word ‘until’ covers for many a Florida settler
a multitude of weary days, and months, aye
and years; if he has not the wherewithal to
meet current expenses while waiting the
happy climax to his labors.
It often happens to such an one, to wish
that human creatures could do as the alliga
tors and water-turtles, namely, go down into
the mud and lie dormant until the sun
shines, or what means the same thing here,
until the grove has arrived at full bearing.
And now, we hear a voice at our shoul
der more truthful than complimentary.
“ Goosie, goosie gander, wither will ye wan
der.” It is true, we have strayed from our
path; let us go to our present task of mak
ing a home, such an one, we mean, as we
find here and there, almost always too,
among the Northern settlers, with neat
fences, clearly laid out walks bordered with
oleander trees, with roses and other flow
ers scattered all around, with broad latticed
piazzas, shaded and beautified by densely
foliaged vines, mingled together in joyous,
happy-go-lucky fashion that is charming to
see. .
Buona nox, evening glory, yellow jasmine
and trumpet creeper, beauties all of them
and to be had for the digging in the ham
mocks all around. Thunbergia, cypress-vine,
barcliana, evening jasmine, English ivy,
honeysuckle, all these and many more, hob
nob together in riotous exuberance, and
the glory and fragrance of their loving em
brace must be seen to be realized.
This is a type of the home we would have
every lady to own who comes to live in our
“ Land of Flowers," and she can easily have
it too, and in a less time than one would
suppose possible. To any one accustomed
to the slow growth, and yearly check for
months of vegetable life in the North, the
rapid, luxurious and almost ceaseless growth
of South Florida vegetation is simply won
derful.
If you own so much as twenty acres of
land it will go hard if there is not at least
one large or small lakelet on the tract. If it
be a deep one, at least in the center, it will
never go dry like a cow; build your house
near by, not very close, else in wet weather
the water may creep up to your door, but so
as to have a full view of the clear, beautiful
water, and the beautiful water lilies that are
either already there or can be brought from
more favored lakelets in the neighborhood.
A little water, in one pure, mirror-like spot,
will do wonders for a landscape, in fact, one
feels the want of a principal element of
beauty if it is not to be seen.
As we have intimated, there are few tracts
of twenty, or even ten acres in South Florida
where a lake of some kind may not be found;
from the second story of a houso at the
writer’s hand, for instance, no less than ten
such sheets of water, some larger, some
smaller, are visible, their extent altering
greatly as the wet or the dry season prevails.
“ Are they not unhealthy ?" we are often
asked. No, not at all; they are vastly dif
ferent from the ponds scattered widely
through many of our Northern States,
which have mud bottoms, and in which the
water becomes stagnant and malarial; our nu
merous Florida lakelets, (we don’t degrade
them by calling them ponds,) are formed by
hollows of different sizes becoming filled
with water during the copious rains of sum
mer. Sometimes they are originated and
fed by springs, but however this may be, the
fact remains that their bottomsare composed
entirely of sand, clean, pure and unfouled
by mud. The water constantly filters down
through the the sand, and a constant evapo
ration also takes place from the surface, so
that its mass is always changing and never
stagnates.
Many a time have we ridden through these
little lakelets when the water was so deep as
to necessitate lifting our feet to our horse’s
back, and yet the white sand and short grass
at the bottom were almost as plainly to be
seen as if uncovered.
When the dry time comes, and they begin
to recede from their shallow margins, there
is nothing left exposed to decay in the sun
and air, as there is on the great lake shores;
but clean sand, or perhaps a few blades of
timid, slender grass, looking as if frightened
to death at its return to dry land.
There are no healthier localities than those
in these numerous little sheets of water, and
they are not only ornamental, as we have
said, but useful also. The horses, cattle,
chickens, ducks, dogs, all the domestic
family in fact, regard them with high favor
as fashionable watering-places, and frequent
them accordingly, especially during the
summer season. The horses and cattle
browse around their margins, the chickens
have a fine time chasing insects and hunting
little frogs, the ducks paddle about to their
hearts content, only slightly demoralized
when, once in a while, a wicked alligator
pokes up his head and one of their number
reluctantly accompanies him on his return
trip to the bottom of the lake. The dogs lap
up the pure, clear water and go their way
rejoicing, and the cats, when disgusted with
the table kept by their owners, go down to
the shore and step on the damp ground with
a comioally reluctant, dainty tread, and sit
ting down at the water's edge, with a silent
protest against such useless moisture, wait
patiently, with pricked up ears and intent
gaze, until a luckless fish swims within the
fatal radius of those lurking claws, and then,
presto I a paw goes under the water like a
flash, and the fish comes out, bewildered
with its sudden rise in the world.
That last word gives another phase of the
usefulness of even our smaller lakes for
there is scarcely one that lacks a supply of
fish. The so-called trout, which are really
black bass, are found in nearly all, and the
bream, sun-fish and war-mouth perch,
abound. They are all fine fish for the table,
their flesh sweet and firm. The trout often
attain a weight of from twelve to fifteen
pounds, the others are smaller and good for
frying, often also in these small lakes, so
tiny as to be cooked like the smelts or frost-
fish of the Northern winter markets, namely
in one indiscriminate mass.' They taste very
much like them too.
Then there are turtle in these lakelets,
real genuine turtle. We don’t claim that
they are green turtle, but nevertheless they
are excellent eating, either in soup, a plain
stew, or cooked a-la-terrapin. There are two
kinds. One, a very handsome fellow, with
an arched, hardshell back, boldly marbled
in orange and black. He' is a mild, inoffen
sive creature, and very pleasant to interview
on the soup tureen. We can’t speak so high
ly socially of his brother turtle, who is the
unmitigated scamp with a broad, flat leath
ery back, hard in the center and pliable at
the edges, and who wears a dirty, blackish,
wrinkled coat. He is not mild nor inoffen
sive, try him once and you will see in what
manner he will dart his long, homy, tube
like snout at your fingers. He always re
ceives very respectful treatment from his
captors until the opportunity carefully
watched for, arrives of cleaving the threat
ening snout from his ugly body, or, per
chance. !>e ends his days in a pail of boiling
water, wMch, after all, is the bestand most
merciful way of ending them.
The largest we have seen of either of these
turtles weighed about ten pounds, and they,
with the fish, are no despicable gifts from
the little lakelets to the family table. How
are they caught ? Well, we will come to
that in due time.
Very often, too, water fowl frequent their
smooth waters, and from this source a sports
man can furnish many a welcome dish for
the household. In front of our modest home,
with a short avenue of oleander trees lead
ing down to its grass-grown shore, is one of
these little lakes we have been talking about.
It does not cover an acre of ground at its
largest, and in dry times it shrinks to a deep
half-acre basin in the center, whose sides are
evidently perpendicular like a well. It
never contracts more than this, and is proba
bly fed by springs.
The water is as clear as crystal, and in calm
weather reflects the sun and cloud like a
burnished mirror, while in windy times, it
is wonderful to see how the miniature waves
rise up, so as to thump and toss our little boat
and cur] their white caps all around it. Our
circular water mirror has a veritable frame
of its own of green and gold, a clear, un
broken circle about six feet wide,of a curious
aquatic plant with small leaves floating on
the surface of the water, with bright yellow
flowers rising above them, clearly defining
the edge of the well-like, permanent basin.
“ I would give five hundred dollars for a
lakelet like that on my place,” exclaimed a
less fortunate neighbor whose water-mirrors
will sometimes shrink away to nothing, leav
ing a grass-grown hollow that cattle delight
in. And this wish is expressed, not on ac-
countof the beauty of that little sbiningspot,
but because of its permanency, and hence
its value to its owner, should he desire to
water his grove in a dry time by the aid of a
wind-mill, or use it for the supply of his
house. In this connection five hundred dol
lars is a low estimate of the value of a per
manent lakelet large or small, near one’s
grove and house.
As a rule, the shores of these lakelets in
cline so gradually to the deep water in the
center that fishing from the shore is out of
the question. A prettily painted skiff riding
on the water adds much to its beauty, but
where such cannot be procured, a home
made flat-bottomed scow answers just as
well.
As we said awhile ago, it is better to put
your house back a few hundred yards from
the lakelet, not only for the reason then
given but because, if you have no other con
veniently near, you will either have to shut
out your chickens, horses and calves from its
enjoyment, or else lay aside all idea of
building up a cozy home-like surrounding.
Ohiokena, hones and oalvea don’t agree with
flowers, trees and vines. Fence off a small
space around the bouse, if regularly made
pickets cannot be had and this is the case in
most parts of the State; shingling laths from
the nearest saw mill, cut into five feet
lengths, make an excellent and neat fence,
painted or white-washed. We say a small
space advisedly because unless one is able to
keep a man or boy constantly employed
among the flowers and small fruit trees and
grass plats around the house, the weeds will
gather headway and soon choke the more
delicate plants to death, and that wicked
irrepressible sandrspur grass, with its tall
tufts of sharp, stiff, hooked points that punc
ture like a needle, and holds fast with a
tenacity of purpose that we might admire
under other circumstances, will quickly take
possession of the territory, and make pedes
trians unhappy, especially those who are un
fortunate enough to wear skirts. One
might well liken these vandals of the Florida
soil to an uneasy conscience,“their prick" is
sharp enough surely.
They are called “spurs" rather sarcasti
cally it would seem, since their effect is to
retard progress rather than to spur it on.
They are had enough in the field or grove but
they become intolerable around the bouse,
and so since they and other obstreperous
weeds flourish during nine months of the
year, and require constant watchfulness to
keep them under subjection, it is better to
throw most of the battle upon the plow out
side of the garden gate, for in afamily where
the means are wanting, to hire a man or boy
by the month, the burden of keeping such
“ useless trnsli ’’ as flowers or vines in order
will be cast by the busy men folks upon
their more delicate companions who are
alive to their actual utility as home attrac
tions.
Those who have come from the old settled,
thoroughly civilized portions of the North,
or West, or indeed, of the South, will almost
inevitably experience a sense of dismay and
hopelessness, at the prospect of the long
struggle before them, when they behold a
wilderness of oak or pine trees, rearing their
heads aloft on the very spot selected for
their home. Where a place can be pur
chased with improvements already started,
it is a great gain, but the majority cannot
secure such an one, and so must carve their
own home out of the virgin forest. Nor is
this such a dreadful <undertaking as it ap
pears at the outset; the trees and vines grow
so rapidly, and it is snch a pleasure to watch
their increase, and note how steadily order
is forming out of chaos, and comfort and
beauty marching to the front. We know ail
about it because our own home was started
amidst a forest of tall, deadened trees, with
a straggling field of corn growing in their
midst, and sand-spurs so luxuriant that
every step was painful and almost impossi
ble, until a plow had turned under the ob
noxious vandals. The white, ghostly-look-
ing trees had to be hewn down, cut up and
rolled away in piles to be burnt, the stumps
grubbed and burned out, and the corn laid
low before the carpenters could even lay the
foundation for the house.
The kitchen, which is generally detached
from the main house, was built first, and the
two members of the family who preceded the
rest in their flight from the chilly North,
lived therein, cooking on an oil stove out of
doors for two months. The room was com
modious enough, twelve by eighteen feet
but for a dwelling after a large, three-story
city house, with all modern conveniences
was a somewhat bewildering change, and
the wild surroundings of a native forest, and
the rat, tat, tat of hammers on the main
house and the thud of falling trees all day,
the weird glare of of a hundred fires illumi
nating the landscape at night, and flashing
back from that little mirror we have spoken
of, all these things added not a little to the
oddity of a novel scene, until irresistibly
arose the recollection and personal applica
tion of the famous nursery rhyme, of the
little old woman who fell asleep ;.n tho king’s
highway, who bewildered by the curtail-
mentof her skirts whileshe slept,exclaimed:
“ It I be I, as I hope I be,
I’ve a little do* at borne, and be knows me •
If I be I, be will wa* his little tall, ’
It I be not I, he will bark and he will wall.
•• Home went the little woman, all in the dark ”
Up jumped the little dog and he began to bark
The dog began to bark and she began to err '
Ohl lawkl oh I mercy! this surely can’t be I."
When the house was finished every one
went to work to “ fixup," and transform the
crude elements into a comfortable, home
like place, the stronger arms went to digging
out and burning out stumps, and in a few
months, one pair of arms—unaccustomed to
such work too—disposed of over three hund
red of these unsightly hindrances to cultiva
tion- The weaker hands found full employ-