88 ALONG THE HILLSBOROUGH. 



than that. They were resplendent with 

 fruit, and on my earlier visits were also in 

 bloom. One did not need to climb the hill 

 to learn the fact. For an out-of-door sweet- 

 ness it would be hard, I think, to improve 

 upon the scent of orange blossoms. As for 

 the oranges themselves, they seemed to be 

 in little demand, large and handsome as they 

 were. Southern people in general, I fancy, 

 look upon wild fruit of this kind as not ex- 

 actly edible. I remember asking two colored 

 men in Tallahassee whether the oranges still 

 hanging conspicuously from a tree just over 

 the wall (a sight not so very common in 

 that part of the State) were sweet or sour. 

 I have forgotten just what they said, but I 

 remember how they looked. I meant the 

 inquiry as a mild bit of humor, but to them 

 it was a thousandfold better than that : it 

 was wit ineffable. What Shakespeare said 

 about the prosperity of a jest was never more 

 strikingly exemplified. In New Smyrna, 

 with orange groves on every hand, the wild 

 fruit went begging with natives and tourists 

 alike ; so that I feel a little hesitancy about 

 confessing my own relish for it, lest I should 

 be accused of affectation. Not that I de- 



