176 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



The terrible "cold wave" that swept over the whole 

 country in January, 1886, penetrating even so far as the 

 Cuban shores, was a phenomenal one, and as such should 

 be recorded as a period of unusual interest. 



On the 7th and 8th of the month the Signal Service 

 office at Jacksonville telegraphed all over the State that a 

 very cold wind was approaching. 



All day long, on Friday the 8th, there was a very heavy 

 wind, and all through the night it blew and tore around 

 our dwelling, beating the branches of the lime trees against 

 the walls, ripping up the banana leaves into ribbons, and 

 thrashing the roof with the branches of trailing vines. 



A member of our family remarked that she ' ' thought 

 something was up," and we mildly suggested, as a big tin 

 pan descended from its nail and rumbled over the piazza, 

 bewailing its fate, that we ** thought something was down." 



The wind kept on its wild career during Saturday and 

 Saturday night ; but it was not until late in the afternoon 

 that the first warning breath from Jack Frost's capacious 

 lungs reached us and we began to realize that there would 

 be full need for the huge wood-piles that hard work had 

 placed en cordon around the bearing grove. 



Before long, hoAvever, it became more than doubtful 

 whether even the hottest fires could avail to save the fruit 

 hanging upon the trees, the high wind carrying the warmed 

 air away too rapidly to effect much, if any, change in the 

 temperature of the air in the grove. 



By seven o'clock in the evening the thermometer marked 

 35°, a thing not known here before, and it kept rapidly 

 on in its downward course until, at seven o'clock Sunday 

 morning, it stood at 23° ! A hundred miles south of us, 

 at the same time, it marked 19°. 



That Sunday was any thing but a '' day of rest" on our 

 premises. All day long men and horses were at work feed- 



