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54 THE SOUTHERN WORLD, DECEMBER 15, 1882. HOHE LIFE IE FLORIDA. BY HZLIN HARCOCBT. Eighth Paper. “What Shall I Head?” This is a question that has douStless per plexed every householder and prospective settler, when breaking up the old home and getting ready (or the new. “ What shall 1 need there, what shall I take, what leave behind T” I.Msa very carious thing to those who .. kliow Florida as it Is to learn how very wild and erroneous are the ideas floating about over the rest of the United States concern ing their southernmost sister. Only a few days since, for instance, we read an editorial in a Northern paper, one too, that should have known better, in which it was stated that all Florida houses, outside of the cities, were built on the edge of swamps, that there was not enough dry land in the State to per- njit them to be built anywhere else, that snakes were everywhere under foot and when the doors were opened in the morning the snakes would crawl into the houses. Only a few days ago, too, the New York Sun published a letter from one of its regular correspondents, who, by the way, bears no savory name in this State, in which a score of such false statements were made, and it is quite possible that an idiotic reader, here and there, may swallow such stories. “ The fools are not all dead yet,” but fer all that, we of Florida can well afford to laugh at these impotent attempts to injure a noble State that is well able to speak for herself, by her works. The tide of immigration that Bet in Florida- ward, six or seven years ago, and has con stantly increased ever since, until to-day it is flowing wide and deep from every State in the Union, from England, Scotland, Sweden, is quite strong enough of itself to disprove all falsehoods and jealous misrepresenta tions. Not less wide of the truth are some of the ideas taken up by intending settlers as to what articles of household furniture and clothing they will And use for after reaching their new home. The idea of perpetual) summer all the year round is one of these and, consequential^- warm clothing is left behind “ packed np," or else reluctantly given away, and more often than not, when the mistake is made, the settler does not find • it out until the very moment when the arti cle left in the North is needed and then he and his family suffer from cold. "Suffer from cold in Florida!” we hear some of our readers exclaim. Even so; there are certain months of the year when it is quite possible to suffer from cold if not prop erly protected from it, for it is certainly there to be felt, and we are speaking now of South Florida too, since that is the objective point of nine-tenths of all the incoming tide of settlers. We shall have more to say concerning the climate of Florida by and by, but at present all that concerns us is the degree of heat and cold as affecting one’s clothing and house hold arrangements. It is not at all neces sary that the thermometer should sink to the freetlng point before the human frame becomes susceptible to a sense of chilliness a if that were so, then fires and warm clothing would be seldom needed in the more south ern portions of this State. But, as it is, a temperature much below seventy degrees speedily chills the blood, if one is sitting still, and there are many days of the Florida winter when the thermometer marks far be low this. The winter temperature of Flori da is much like that of the typical May and September of the Middle States—New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and thereabouts. For over twenty years, in the latitude of Jacksonville, the thermometer, during Jan uary, February and March, averaged sixty- two degreees. At St. Augustine it was rather lower; fifty-nine degrees, the direct sea air counteracting the “southing" of this quaint old town as compared with Jackson ville. Further south and in the interior counties the average for winter is about sixty-eight, sometimes higher, less often lower. Very rarely a slight film of ice may be seen early in the morning on water stand ing exposed. We have seen it twice in Sumter county during our four Florida win ters, and once it lasted in the shade, an eighth of an inch thick, until noon, the thermome ter marking thirty-one, it had been twenty- nine at day-light, and that wav the lowest we have seen it at all. That was our first win ter, and we felt.as if we had met with a pretty cool reception in our new home, and wondered in rather a dazed, dumb foundered fashion, if this was the way that Florida winters usually behaved. We felt rather disconsolate over it until assured by the old settlers of nine and ten years standing that they bad never seen such a cold storm before and they told the truth too. For three days the wind blew and the rain fell, and the thermometer fell too, steadily, going lower and lower, until it reached the point we have named. Florida houses are not built for cold weather, there is so little of it that it would not be worth while to go the expense of tight building; still, on all ordinary occa sions, there is no trouble in keeping warm and comfortable. But this occasion we have referred to, was not an ordinary one at all; such a storm, we are happy to say, was al most unprecedented. There was a small stove in the hall, quite enough to take the chill off the adjoining rooms during the usual “cool snaps” but now it proved to tally inadequate; a high, damp, rain-laden wind, sifting everywhere, which practically dropped the temperature many degrees low er than the thermometer marked, it could not be endured by mortal frames. The dining table was toted bodily into the kitchen, fortunately a large one, and as the floor thereof, like those of all Florida houses, built as they are of unseasoned lumber was decidedly open, four pairs of feet, numbed and cold, led their desperately astonished owners to the attic, where a legion of com fortables, bed-quilts and blankets were hauled out from the resting places where they had thought to remain in “ inglorious ease ” and were made to do duty as carpets in the kitchen; ail of the bona fide carpets being down in their proper places in the deserted main house. That made the four pairs of feet more like themselves, but the four bodies hugged up close to the big kitchen stove, and the pine wood was kept freely burning. Now, this yellow pine, al most universally used in Florida for cook ing purposes, has a way, sometimes, of get ting too much for one if due care is not ex ercised, there are certain pieces, easily recog nized, that are very “ fat,” that is, they con. tain a larger proportion than usual of tur pentine, and so ignite readily and burn finely. Being more used to anthracite coal than to pine wood, we did not realize this fact, neither did we notice that our supply of wood was of this fat description, so we piled it in the stove and by and by the heat drove us further off, then looking up we saw the stove-pipe assuming a glowing hue close to the ceiling where it entered the brick flue; next we saw something more to our horror, smoke and flames beginning to curl up from the ceiling around the pipe. Once a yellow pine house takes fire theTe is no saving it, there are no hose carriages or fire engines to be summoned, and the wood burns fiercely and irresistibly. The sight of those creep ing flames scared .the chill blood away; one ran for a ladder to reach the trap that had been made in the ceiling to meet just such occasions as this, another scrambled like a cat up the partition, on a clothes horse, plunged through the open trap, and dashed a pail of water around the blazing pipe hole; those below got a fine steam bath, and the one above came down looking like a chim ney sweep, all over soot and cobwebs, but no one regarded appearances just then, the threatening calamity was averted, the fire was put out and the immigrants were saved from being made homeless indeed. After that the flue was lined with a strip of sheet tin, through which the pipe was made to pass, and with reasonable care, safety in the future was assured, and this is just what we earnestly urge every settler to do, before he he even kindles a fire in his house. It is an emphatic illustration of the old proverb, " that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” In saying that Florida houses are not built for cold weather, we do not mean to assert that there are no houses in the State that are as weather-proof as a good class of North ern dwellings. There are some such with tight windows, tongued and grooved floor boards and plastered walls, just as cosy and comfortable in cold weather as any residence in the North, but these are the exceptions and not the rule. They are only found where the owner has a surplus of money, and usu ally it is the old settler become well-to-do from the profits of his grove, who is the for tunate man; although of course among the incoming settlers, are a few, here and there, who come for the climate and not to carve a future, who are able to build jnatsuch a house as they choose, with every improve ment and convenience. Some prefer open fire places, and certainly there is something cheerful about a great, roaring blase, with the bright flames leaping and dancing up the broad chimney. But then in Florida such a big fire is very rarely needed, or even comfortable, and all the rest of the year one is confronted by either the blackened “hole in the wall" or by the screen that conceals it. To many it is an item to be considered that these great chimneys cost far more than the simple flues needed for stoves, the difference between fifty and five dollars being considerable. To our mind the smafl and ornamental stoves that are now in the market, costing from eight to ten dollars, with doors that slide back from the front, leaving a pretty little grate ex. posed to view, where the oak wood glows and sparkles, is far preferable to the old style of open fire place; the heat can be regulated as desired, and when not needed, which is the case for eight months of the year, it can be removed from sight; it has all the cosy effect of the open fire-place with none of its disadvantages. We have now said enough to show that it would not be wise to leave all warm clothing behind when bound for a Florida home, bring it all on the contrary, no matter how old or shabby or condemned, in the North ern home. That is one of Florida’s good points, the ability to wear out one’s clothes, even after the new shine is rubbed off, the fact is, we often think how we should pity the “old clothes man" if should unhappily wander down to these regions, he would find no stock in trade, for everybody wears the old clothes as long as they will hold together, keeping the Best for Sunday-go-to-meeting occasions. He is wise who dresses according to his occupation, and rough work around farms is more suitably done in old clothes. For a year or more before we migrated from the North, it was a standing joke, when arti cles of dress became to shabby to wear for our city home, yet were too good to give up entirely, to thrust them away into a trunk, with the laughing remark, “ This will do in Florida." We hardly expected to see the Land of Flowers then, but we did, and every one of those castaway artideshave come into use, saving something better. Oo thou and do likewise, oh! future Floridian. It is a wise plan to follow foT it costs nothing and saves much. Old coats and pants, old dresses and sacks,- old waterproofs, old shoes, good but too shabby to wear in thickly settled communities, all these are treasure troves in the wild free life of Florida’s new settle ments, and do just as well and better, to knock around in than newer and handsomer clothing, to whose welfare thought must be given. The heavy winter flannels that are worn in our Northern homes are worn by prudent people in Florida also during the months of November, December, January and February; when the temperature rises the change in dress is made from the outside, a chilly, bracing day requires woolen cloth ing in addition to the warm underclothing; on milder days, and they predominate, wash dresses for the women and alpaca coats for the men are in order; then if there comes a sudden change it is very easy to replace the heavy outer clothing. The wear ing of flannel next to the skin is an import ant factor for the preservation of health, not alone in Florida, however; it guards the body against sudden changes of temperature as no other clothing can do, because it ab sorbs moisture from the skin, and so rapidly evaporates it, that when a cool breeze is blowing, even though one’s outer slothing may be dripping with perspiration, it never clings damp and wet to the body, chilling it “ to the bone ” as the saying is. Gauze flan nel in summer and heavy flannel in winter ; these we would advise for Florida, as much as for a more variable clime. For summer weather, one wears just the same as in the north, except that in the eve nings a light jacket or other wrap of some kind is desirable, as also very often during the day if setting out on the porch. And now we are going to say something that will astonish most of our readers, yet we mean it, and it is true. It is cooler in the summer in Florida than itis in the northern states, or in any other of the southern, yes, though it is the most southerly of all. We will discuss this matter of climate in due time, but now it is enough to assert this fact as explaining what we have Baid about summer clothing Their swiss dresses, that ladies frequently find occasion to wear dur ing the northern summers, are rarely worn on the peninsnla of Florida, because of the cool breezes that are constantly sweeping over it from gulf to ocean, and from ocean to gulf. It is a breeze that is always at odds with the thermometer, always "giving it the lie,” in the most reckless manner; for in stance, one summer day our mater familicu settled down on the porch to sew, but in a few minutes rose up and departed in doors, with the remark that it "was too cool to be comfortable.” It was mid day in the mid dle of July, and according to the northern ideas and northern practice at that hour we should have been melting with fervid heat. We looked at the thermometer, and it mark ed 80°! The breeze and the thermometer were quarreling as usual, you see, and the breeze had the best of it; it really was too cool to sit out of doors, in the shade; and this was not a rare occasion either. Of course the sun is hot, so. it is north, with no breeze three fourths of the time, to temper its rays, and who does not dread the sweltering, breathless days and nights of intense heat, that sandwich the cooler times, all summer long 7 There is never a night in south Flor ida, when one cannot sleep, in comfort, or is compelled to toss, or wander about seeking a cool spot; more often than not a blanket is needed before morning. And now as to furniture. A great many Floridians live on bare floors all the year round, but that is not the way the better classes like to live, if they can help them selves. We have heard of settlers, who,before leav ing their old homes, sold, or gave away all their household carpets, “what on earth should we do with carpets in Florida, they exclaim," do i why, tread them under foot, to be sure. A Florida house has floors, sure ly, and they are the better for being covered, not only for their attractivenses, but for their owners comfort, there is something ut terly cheerless about bare floors, that takes away all the home feeling for a room, no matter how well it may be furnished other wise; the intrusive sound of every footstep, the scraping and thumping whenever a piece of furniture is moved, carries with it a sense of discomfort to the ear, as the bare boards do to the eye. Matting is just the thing for summer use, and will do very well for the cooler months also, especially if rags or strips of carpeting are laid by bed, bureau or wash- stand, these, give comfort to the feet, and relieve the otherwise chilly aspect of mat ting, especially if it be white. These rags and strips, too, will relieve the dreariness of a bare floor, if such there must be. But for those who have carpets, we would say, by all means bring them along,and lay them on the floors, if not for all the year, at least for the winter months, you will be glad enough to feel them under your feet when the cool winds are whistling outside, and the cozy fire is burning merrily inside;' *~ As to furniture; advice on this subject is more difficult to give, as a great deal de pends on the point to which the settler is bound, especially if be has to buy new fur niture ; if it be near Jacksonville, Palatka, Leesburg, Saudford, Gainesville, Ocala, or any of the larger towns; then it would be well to bring from the north, only such few heirloom articles of furniture as one is not willing to part with—carpets, matting, bed ding, especially hair mattrasses and feather pillows, pictures, brackets, books, and the little odds and ends that do not take up much room, yet goes very far towards mak ing a home cheerful and restful. It is all a question of expense, and where the requis ite furniture can be bought on the spot, it is usually found that the prices asked for them are little, if any higher, than the same things would cost if purchased north, and brought here by the settler; the freight charges will make up the difference. At Jacksonville and Fernandina, house hold furniture, especially, is almost it not quite, os cheap as in New York, the reason being that the merchants have very light freights to pay on these and other bulky ar ticles, because they are usually brought by the lumber schooners, as back freight. They carry freight to Florida cheaply, as they would otherwise have to come in bal last. Householders near the seaports, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, who al ready possess the the needful furniture, and can make arrangements to ship it by schoo ner to Fernandina, or Jacksonville, will save a great deal by by doing so, and land their household goods on their new home site cheaper than they could purchase them. When it is desired to ship by schconer to the nearest point, and that point is south of Palatka, it is sometimes possible to find a vessel bound to the latter place. Always, when it is possible, the settler should ship his goods at least one week ahead of his own departure,if he wishes to find them awaiting him, three weeks, are not too much, if sent by schooner, and in the latter case, it is usual to have the goods insured. It is one of the pleasantest caprices of modern luxury that women have their bed rooms and boudoira-furniahed in colors that will set off their favorite dresses, and add china to match the bed-room.