1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



639 



FLORIDA TRAVELS. 



At Kissimmee, when the train stopped we 

 were welcomed by beautiful music from a brass 

 band, played by a group of young ladies stand- 

 ing on the veranda of one of the tine hotels. I 

 suppose everybody wonders at the queer name 

 of this queer town, situated in one of the pleas- 

 antest parts of Florida. There are many sto- 

 ries in regard to its name. One is, that a very 

 modest young miss inquired of a young gentle- 

 man whom she met, "Are you going to Kissim- 

 mee'?" (meaning to inquire if he were going to 

 the town in question). I did not learn what 

 reply the young man gave; but when you come 

 to hear the people speak of the town it sounds 

 differently from what you would think to see 

 it printed; for the accent is on the second syllable 

 —the first light, and the last one very faint — 

 K'slmm-y. I had been intending to make 

 some stop at the very pretty city of Orlando; 

 but I was getting along so slowly I felt the 

 necessity of hurrying up. Mr. E. J. Baird is a 

 dentist. I went into his pretty office, and sat 

 down until he had time to inquire my wants; 

 and it, was worth a small farm to see the sud- 

 den change in his countenance when he found 

 the editor of Gleanings in his reception-room. 

 He was so glad to see me that it seemed almost 

 cruel to tell him that, I must take the next 

 train, and that I could not even visit his pretty 

 home. 



I omitted to mention, in the proper place, 

 that, while we were passing through Winter 

 Garden and Oakland, we had a view of beauti- 

 ful Apopka Lake. But we had another view 

 from the other side, as we passed the town of 

 East Apopka. I pushed on to Tavares. Well, 

 when you see Tavares in print it will trouble 

 you to pronounce it, almost as much as Kissim- 

 mee, Thonotosassee, and other similar names. 

 Tavares is to be pronounced this way — Ta-var- 

 eez, putting the wholf accent on the second 

 syllable, giving the A the sound it has in the 

 word air. I presume these beautiful names — 

 these strange weird names that we find all over 

 in Florida — were given by the Seminole In- 

 dians, and theirs is a wonderful history; but 

 we have not space to go over it here. 



I reached Tavares after dark, and it was 

 raining. I was a stranger in a strange land, 

 and I had purposed walking over to Mt. Dora 

 before bedtime. I was told that it was at the 

 other (the east) end of the lake giving the town 

 its name; but of course the late hour and the 

 rain and the darkness forbade. I was a littln 

 homesick, and longed for the companionship of 

 friends, such as I had been meeting all through 

 Florida. I put up at the hotel; but the colored 

 waiters, with their starched and spotless linen, 

 and high prices for every thing, to match, did 

 not make my homesickness any better. I hope 

 our colored brethren will not think I have any 

 prejudice against them — quite the contrary; 

 but I am prejudiced against any man or 

 woman, colored or white, who looks down up- 

 on humble, every-day working people like my- 

 self, from the lofty heights of their starched 

 and polished style. If I have not told it right, 

 you probably know what I mean, any way. I 

 told the lofty clerk I would pay for supper and 

 lodging, as I wished to walk over to Mount 

 Dora and take breakfast there. At this he 

 drew himself up still more loftily, smiled in a 

 supercilious way, and said I could never reach 

 there on foot, for it was eight miles. I presume 



he looked down with disdain and pity on the 

 man who would get up at daylight and walk 

 that distance for the sake of— well, we will say 

 for the sake of being somewhere ct.se. It seemed 

 to me the price he charged was quite ample for 

 a whole day's board and lodging. Was I doing 

 the right thing to travel that distance on the 

 Sabbath, to be among friends? Wait a little. I 

 did not see a single human being on that whole 

 trip, because I made it before anybody else was 

 up. After walking a couple of miles along the 

 shores of the pretty lake I began to experience 

 the same sort of second wind in walking, that I 

 do in riding a bicycle; and I burst forth in 

 songs of praise and thanksgiving to the great 

 Maker of heaven and earth. I told him my 

 wants and needs. I could talk out loud, for the 

 most of the way I was right in the wilderness, 

 with the lake on one side, and, of course, there 

 was none to hear but the birds that cheered me 

 with their morning songs. I prayed out loud for 

 the friends I had left, and for the dear wife and 

 children at home, and for the boys who were 

 bearing their burdens while I was taking things 

 so easy. I asked the dear Father the questio.n 

 whether it was wrong for me to get ud thus ear- 

 ly and enjoy his holy Sabbath. If answers 

 come to us in peace and joy. and an ease of con- 

 science, then the answer came to me that I was 

 in the straight and narrow path. My example 

 was not bad. because I chose that early hour 

 when nobodv could have been offended or mis- 

 led by my example. 



I reached a hotel, and had a half-hour's rest 

 before breakfast was ready. The distance was 

 only sir miles, and not eight, come to get there. 

 The breakfast was much more to my liking; 

 and the ways and manners of the people were in 

 such strongcontrast with those at Tavares that 

 I expressed my satisfaction and thanks before 

 all the guests. This seemed to break the ice; 

 and after bantering me a little I felt fully ac- 

 quainted with the people — enough so to express 

 a wish that I might meet them all at the church 

 during the forenoon; and I was rejoiced to see 

 the faces of some of them there later on. This 

 nice breakfast that suited me so well, both in 

 quality and the way it was served, was 2.5 cts. 

 My supper on'y, mind you, the night before, 

 was 7.5 cts.. and lodging 75 cts. besides. 



Our good friend C. H. Longstreet resides at 

 Mount Dora. He and his wife and all his 

 house are good old-fashioned Methodists. I 

 talked with the people at the Sunday-school 

 at the pretty little Methodist church, and to 

 the Endeavor society in the evening, at the Con- 

 gregational church. Near Mount Dora I passed 

 the beautiful Chautauqua grounds of Florida. 

 Friend Longstreet is a gardener as well as a 

 bee keeper, and he showed me some of his work 

 in sub-irrigation in Florida. He dug out the 

 ground in one corner of his garden to the depth 

 of a foot or a foot and a half, and then lined 

 this excavation with water-lime cement spread 

 right out on the ground. The cement was 

 built up around the sides of the basin, so it 

 would hold six inches of water. Then the hole 

 was filled with rich soil. A tile was put down 

 in to carry the water to the bottom of the ce- 

 ment basin; and when the plants need water it 

 is poured in till the ground is saturated. The 

 experiment was a complete success; and it gave 

 the little orange and lemon trees a start away 

 bevond those not thus irrigated. 



The matter of having numbered tin labels for 

 hives has recently been mentioned in Glean- 

 ings. Friend Longstreet makes a very neat tin 

 label of can-bottoms. One edge is turned up so 

 as to keep the tin flat, and secure from being 

 bent or bruised, and there is plenty of room to 

 print a large plain figure so you can read it as 

 far off as you can see the apiary. Perhaps I 



