the surrounding country around Lake Santa Fé, Sampson, and Kingsley, is high land, or "bluffs"-fertile, not foggy and damp, and very salubrious and delightful. Having dreamed over these pleasant descriptions, I was quite eager to see with my own eyes, and test the truth of what I had heard. But "the best-laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley ;" and on reaching Baldwin, the morning trains had just been discontinued for the season, and by this change I should be subject to many delays and inconveniences. So that pleasure must be laid aside for another winter; and, before speaking of Rollestown, permit a few words which should have been added to the last letter. Letters requesting more minute particulars about Florida are received daily; and I am therefore more than ever anxious to give no false impressions, but would avoid the injury done by those who, on transient visits, publish "overwrought, visionary letters." In their enthusiasm they are tempted to paint only the brightest side of the picture, overlooking the real, practical, stubborn facts in the case, which those who come every winter, or have become residents, see and fully understand. I have endeavored not to err in that direction, and honestly do not think I have. It is not Florida as she now is, but what I truly believe she can be made, that I have endeavored to show; and, with her natural advantages of soil and climate, this change can be effected much more readily than in most new lands. Of course, I take it for granted that the readers' good sense will teach them that the work which must be done to secure good results can not be accomplished without some hardship and much self-denial. How severely either of these may press upon the new settler will depend largely on the strength, energy, and natural capacity of those who undertake the initiative labor. Florida is most truly a new State," because, after incredible rebuffs and disasters, she is once again struggling to rise above the many obstacles that have so often well-nigh destroyed her. She has been tossed about from one nation to another like a foot-ball; but of her history we will speak presently. Just now we desire to make it plain that here, as elsewhere, first steps are always surrounded with hardships, and often -like a little child learning to walk-one rises for a moment, but to fall again, and so on, till the way becomes familiar and easy. "The hardy pioneer, who forces his way into the wilds of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and other parts of our Western States, will tell you that when one decides to locate in new or wild lands and begins to reclaim them, he must make up his mind that for two or three years a rough life, with many inconveniences and hardships, chill or ague, and other ailments, are before him; that it is a close fight, a sturdy determination to grapple with and subdue the wilderness; but he must bear in mind and take courage from the knowledge that, having conquered, the reward is close at hand. It is strange that so many people who are really sensible in most things, making the attempt to settle here or elsewhere, are entirely ignorant of this. They come expecting to find Florida "one vast flower-garden or orange-grove by nature, needing no labor or cultivation," and that, without a Joshua to lead, they have but to pass over and possess the promised land, and at once, without any exertion on their part, sit down under their own vine and fig-tree, with none to molest or make them afraid. But "the truth is, this lovely land is but a wilderness as yet, and those who would have the garden and the grove, must come and make them." "Is Florida a healthy State?" is a frequent question. "The sanitary reports of the army show a much greater degree of health among the soldiers in Florida during the late war, and previously among the troops stationed here, than in any other section of the Union; and the prevailing disease, intermittent fever, is of a much less virulent type than in most new countries. This does not prove, however, that there is no sickness here. There certainly is; but it is also perfectly true that the healthfulness of Florida is fully equal to that of other State in our Union." any I have quoted from the best authority; but there is one point not mentioned, so far as I have been able to learn, in any report, but which I think it but common justice to refer to; for it touches on an objection often made against coming here for health or with any hope of retaining and securing what one has. I can better illustrate my meaning by putting into shape conversations that one often hears when going up and down the St. John's River, or crossing over to Jacksonville, where friends and acquaintances have met unexpectedly. Now and then one finds some dissatisfied or discontented mortals, who have been but a very short time in Florida, hurrying back North as if some pestilence were behind them. In such cases something like the following conversation may be heard: "Why, my dear sir, you are wild to return North so early. Your family, if not yourself, will suffer in consequence if you go North before the 1st of May. The cold, raw days, of which we always have so many at the North till after the 20th of May, will be very injurious." "Oh, I've made up my mind that coming to Florida for health is all nonsense." 66 But," interrupts his friend, "you haven't been here long enough to know anything about this country or climate." "Well, I think that by spending a day or two in each of the best hotels, or a week or two traveling in steamer or railroad, one can form a pretty correct. idea of the country and the character of the climate. I, for one, have had all the experience I care for. If this is considered a climate to grow strong and sound in, or the people one meets are specimens of the effect of the climate upon the constitution, then Heaven help us! I never saw so many miserable, sallow, sickly, consumptive-looking people in the same length of time in my life as I have in the short time I have been in Florida. I am sick of the sights I see here. All the beauty and I concede that there is a great deal— |