THOMASVILLE AS A WINTER RESORT. 189 



high temperature? a damp and relaxing, or a dry and bracing air? 

 an inland location, or the sea-side ? a valley or a mountain ? Should 

 he try Bermuda, or Aiken, or Nassau, or St. Augustine, or Asheville, 

 or any of the score of resorts recommended for pulmonary invalids ? 

 If the doctor settles the point, it is well ; if not, the patient must take 

 his chances and do the best he can to settle it for himself. 



I found myself last year among those who are embarrassed by this 

 question. With lungs badly out of order, everybody said I must escape 

 the severities of a New York winter by going somewhere. I advised 

 with several eminent pulmonary experts, who agreed that it might be 

 a good thing to get away, but did not seem to think it made much 

 difference where I went. I therefore consulted the books on American 

 winter sanitary resorts, in order, in connection with what I had heard, 

 to decide what course to take. The climate of Southern California 

 has its undoubted claims which are well appreciated, but it is far 

 away. Colorado has its advantages, but is liable to sudden and 

 extreme changes. San Antonio, in Southwestern Texas, is unques- 

 tionably an excellent place, with its pure, invigorating air, its mild 

 temperature, and absence of extreme cold, although fierce and frigid 

 " northers " are liable to swoop down upon it with but little warning, 

 and it is also a long way off — two thousand miles by rail. Florida is 

 popular and has many attractions, but it is chiefly low, and is generally 

 damp and malarial. No place is without its drawbacks ; but, in look- 

 ing over their various claims with reference to my own condition, I 

 concluded at last that Thomasville, Georgia, promised to be as eligible 

 as any, and thither I went. 



I found the place eminently satisfactory, and, although without 

 experience of other and rival localities, I am sure that Thomasville 

 has advantages as a Southern residence in winter and spring which 

 must give it increasing and decided prominence as it becomes better 

 known. Of course, the transition from " North " to " South " in 

 February — from bleak, stormy, ice-bound winter to the soft and sunny 

 atmosphere and vernal aspects of flowery spring — is full of delightful 

 sensation wherever experienced ; while the change of environment in 

 passing from a Northern to a Southern community for the first time, 

 intensifies the pleasurable effect. But, besides this, I was much grati- 

 fied by the special attractiveness of the place, and the promise it 

 offered as a healthy residence. 



Thomasville, the capital of Thomas County, Georgia, is located 

 two hundred miles from the Atlantic coast, fifty-five miles from the 

 Gulf, within twelve miles of the Florida border, and on the Savan- 

 nah, Florida, and Western Railroad. It stands upon a ridge or pla- 

 teau covered by extensive pine forests, and at a height of about three 

 hundred and fifty feet above tide-water. It is an old town, with 

 upward of four thousand inhabitants, pleasantly laid out with wide 

 streets, and containing many noble and stately trees — one superb oak 



