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their attics of clothes and furniture that do no good, but are always in the way, they would be surprised to learn how useful "such rubbish can be made, and how thankfully it would be received.

But as to the furnishing of that log-house, you have no conception of the very little furniture that is really absolutely necessary here-or indeed anywhere -to make a family reasonably comfortable. Prosperity and wealth multiply the things we must have in a marvelous manner, and increase the work that must be done in the same proportion. In some leisure hour take paper and pencil, and, beginning with your own room, put down the articles in that one spot that you could do without, and be none the less happy or comfortable.

When people go into the wilderness, and are independent of any "hired help," their wants and absolutely necessary equipments diminish with surprising rapidity. I, for one, would like no better amusement than to come here with some few who, like yourself, will think I am talking wildly, and show you how all I have planned can be done. With a good stock of patience, fortitude, and good nature— without which no one is of much value-I should not fear the experiment. A healthful amount of hard work and self-denial may be expected for a few years ; but that, in itself, brings genuine enjoyment to an independent spirit, especially when a home lies just beyond. And with all this I could promise, as the children say, "lots of fun" besides.

If, in some of those emergencies which will often

occur in the early days of any new work, it should now and then be found necessary to live for a few days on good "bread and water," what then? We have tried it quite close enough to understand just what that means; and we also know how a brave and cheerful spirit can bring light into the darkest hour, and a good hearty laugh can give even to such monastic fare a piquancy and relish not always found at tables loaded with the choicest viands. But in this new life to which we long to bring those at the North who are destitute and suffering, there is little fear of any "bread and water" diet, while the rivers and forests abound with food, to be had without money and without price.

The number of dishes required by those who demanded three or four courses or more for their daily dinner will not be needed here; and the cooking utensils and furniture which we think so important in our Northern homes can be easily dispensed with in a pioneer's first efforts. Many things can be manufactured by one's own self or by some of the family without going to the very extreme of retrenchment, or losing sight of neatness and respectability. And thus in every department one soon learns how very little is actually required to insure a good share of comfort and enjoyment.

I know of those who, losing all at the North but their patience, energy, and industry, have managed to get down to Florida and enter a "homestead." Erecting a rough but comfortable shelter, and furnishing it with what they would once have thought were worth

less scraps that remained out of former abundance, and such articles as their skill or ingenuity could manufacture, they prepared a neat and pleasant abode. In this work the women of the family employed every leisure moment to increase their comforts, or make the place attractive, while they were ever ready to help their husbands and sons in putting in the needed crops as fast as the land was cleared. While waiting for these crops to ripen, the men take an hour when needed to keep a plentiful supply of food by hunting and fishing. Whenever opportunity offered, a few days' work for neighbors now and then supplied comforts which they could not raise from their land, or which were desirable. And in this primitive, impromptu home, they already see promise of a bright and peaceful future. A little self-denial for a few years, and these new settlers may look with confidence to the time when they will have every comfort that a healthy, independent life requires, and may safely look forward to a not distant future when they will be the owners of valuable property, with all the luxuries that may be thought desirable.

That

I am only speaking of what I have seen. there are difficulties and discouragements between the first steps of such an undertaking and the day which will put the feet on firm foundations, I do not deny. But tell me of any important enterprise which ever begins smoothly, and marches on to full consummation without a ripple of trouble or anxiety-without many mistakes, and perhaps some serious disasters! I think there is less to fear in seeking to build up a

home in Florida-bearing in mind to the fullest extent all the difficulties one is liable to encounter-than when entering a new and untried field elsewhere. This delightful climate, the rapid growth of vegetation, the comparatively short time that must intervene before one begins to reap the fruit of well-directed industry, all conspire to cheer the spirits, to keep the courage alive, and to lighten burdens which but for such encouragement might become oppressive.

I have many "Castles in Spain," built when, miserably sick and feeble, we first came to Florida, and which ever since, as we see more of this charming country, have been rising on firmer foundations than such castles can usually boast. Some of these I will show you; but, having already lingered too long, I will close now, reserving them for the next letter. My "Castles" are sufficiently stable to keep another week.

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ON my first visit to

"Of birds and bowers, Where at once upon the

Hang her fruitage and her flowers,"

I was too ill to more than realize the luxury of breathing easily and with daily increasing .comfort, and therefore did little but quietly indulge in day dreams. Will you visit with me presently some of

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