HEALTH. 55 



CHAPTER IV. 



HEALTH. 



One of the very first questions that confronts the intend- 

 ing settler is that of health, and so it should be, paramount 

 to all others ; for what is wealth, or life itself, without the 

 capacity for enjoying them ? And we all know from bitter 

 experience, either in our own persons or in that of those 

 dear to us, that there can be no pleasure, whether in riches 

 or in life, if they are accompanied by sickness and pain. 



So in selecting a home the question of its healthfulness 

 should be the most important of all. the first and fore- 

 most to be considered, even at the possible cost of sacrifice 

 in some minor points ; we say minor advisedly, because all 

 other points are minor to this, and the wise man will sub- 

 ordinate them to it first and last. 



It is a well-known, but none the less to be lamented, 

 phase of human nature, that the moment a country or 

 individual becomes prominent among the rest, by reason 

 of superior merit or advantage, that moment hosts of ene- 

 mies, bitter and unscrupulous, arise and assail them with 

 a venom born of that ''envy, hatred, malice, and all un- 

 charitableness," from whose evil dominion we pray for 

 deliverance. 



For years upon years our sunny Florida lay perdue, as 

 it were, too humble and insignificant to attract the notice 

 of the busy, struggling thousands scattered all over the 

 rest of the world. Why this was so is easily understood 

 by any one who pauses to look back upon her history, as 

 we have seen. Only within a comparatively few years has 

 general attention been bestow^ed upon this hidden gem of 

 the Union. 



