18 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



their pockets the next; nor to men who possess neither 

 patience nor energy, neither perseverance nor "backbone," 

 who prefer sharp practice to honesty, falsehood to truth. 

 For such men as these Florida has no gifts to offer ; she does 

 not want them, has no room for them, and gives them small 

 encouragement to encumber her fair fields and forests. 



Not only in our own dear country, but in England, Scot- 

 land, Ireland, Nor\tay, Sweden, Germany, there are thou- 

 sands upon thousands of men and women, many of them 

 too in the higher walks of life, struggling day by day to 

 meet the daily, never-ending problem of how to live and 

 how to clothe and educate their children. Ah ! did they 

 but know of the peaceful, comfortable home that fair Flor- 

 ida holds forth for their acceptance ! 



When the cold, chilling breath of the Ice King sweeps 

 over the land of the North, and suffering — suffering from 

 cold, from starvation, from sickness — presses its heavy hand 

 upon the downcast, " out of work," poverty-stricken toilers 

 of the earth, we of sunny Florida read the sad story w4th 

 aching hearts ; we look out upon our own bright surround- 

 ings and clear, warm sky, upon trees loaded with golden 

 fruit, ground green with growing crops, chickens and ducks 

 merrily chasing insects ; birds, rabbits, fish, turtle, and, on 

 the coast, oysters and clams to be had for the catching; 

 upon our own lightly clad forms, our small wood fires, 

 some days not even called into requisition ; upon cord after 

 cord of heat-giving, life-giving wood lying rotting on the 

 ground ; upon master builders, carpenters, artisans of all 

 kinds crying out, *' We can not work faster because we can 

 not get workmen enough." We of bonuie Florida look out 

 upon all these things, and the contrast in the lives of those 

 wretched, suffering masses of the North, as it is, with what 

 it might be if they would but accept the comforts that 

 Florida freely offers them, fills our hearts with a yearning 



