84 HOME LIFE IN FLOKTDA. 



SUMMER. 



If there is any one point concerning Florida which is 

 subject to more misapprehensions than any other, it is that 

 of her summer climate. Ninety-nine persons out of a 

 hundred would at once jump at the conclusion that a cli- 

 mate which is so much milder than that of others during 

 the winter, must be correspondingly hotter during the 

 summer season. 



But put the question to those who live in Florida all 

 the year round, "What of the climate in summer?" and 

 the answer will be, " In winter the climate is pleasant, in 

 summer it is delightful." 



This is the almost universal verdict of all who spend a 

 summer or two in the State ; astonishment at first, then 

 delight. 



When the mildness of the winter is taken into consid- 

 eration, and also the fact that the line of latitude in- 

 cluded in Florida is also that embraced by 'Northern 

 Africa and a part of the Desert of Sahara, where, as 

 we have seen, the temperature ranges during the day 

 about 100° in the shade and falls to freezing at night, it 

 is not to be wondered at that the Florida summer should 

 be regarded with suspicion by those who judge from the 

 process of natural induction and are without knowledge 

 of the facts. 



Those who know Florida at all, are well aware that no 

 such heated air as reigns perpetually during the day over 

 the Sahara ever sweeps, even transiently, over fair Florida. 



The same peculiar location of our treasured peninsula 

 which influences the winter temperature has also its effect 

 upon the summer. The very fact that it is a peninsula, 

 w^ith a great ocean to the east and south and a mighty 

 gulf to the west, tells its own tale if one but pauses to 



