PKEFAOE. 



It is not well to venture into unknown regions blind- 

 fold, as it were. That souud old admonition to "Look 

 before you leap" is full of good common sense, and yet 

 it is passed by unheeded more frequently than one can 

 well realize. 



We doubt if, in all the globe, there is any one spot con- 

 cerning which more has been written, pro and con, than of 

 our beloved Florida ; much that is true, much more that is 

 untrue. 



An injudicious friend has more power to harm than an 

 open foe — and thus has it been with Florida : some of her 

 friends, misled by eager enthusiasm, have painted her in 

 colors unnaturally brilliant, such as belong not to this 

 world, all light, no shadows ; enemies, moved by self inter- 

 est to turn the great tide of immigration to other quarters, 

 have portrayed Florida in somber tints, dark and forbidding 

 enough to deter any but the most courageous from crossing 

 her borders. 



We love Florida; of our fair State it may well be said 

 that "to know her is to love her," but we hold that her 

 truest interests are best served by a plain statement of 

 facts, not fancies; of realities, not theories; "the truth, 

 the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." 



Not only throughout the United States, but in Europe, 

 thousands of home seekers are eagerly turning their eyes 



(3) 



