322 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



without their host ; right in their midst dwelt the first 

 comer in that region ; he declined to part from old cus- 

 toms. "If the grass don't burn off around here the cows 

 will be late comin' home at night, 'cause they'll have to 

 wander to hunt fresh grass; and this here grass is goin' to 

 be burnt, that's all about it ! " 



And so at sundown, one early spring day, fire began 

 creeping out beyond the line of ploAved ground he had run 

 around his own fences, and the whole settlement was com- 

 pelled to rush to the rescue of its property, and, with 

 hoes, rakes, axes, and the tops of young pine trees, fight 

 fire till daylight, even thus losing hundreds of rails, which 

 loss threw open groves and fields to the inroads of stock 

 for several days. And these thrifty, intelligent citizens 

 had no redress against this one ignorant one ! 



The law, as it stands at present, allows fire to be put out 

 into the woods during the months of January, February, 

 March, and April; but decrees that the person so firing 

 the woods shall give one or more days' notice of his inten- 

 tion to every one within one mile of his home. 



It is hardly needful to say that this latter clause is gen- 

 erally disregarded ; true, the penalty is heavy, liability for 

 payment of all the damage done. But what matters a 

 penalty, when no one can prove who started the fire? 



Neighbor A. '"lows that old man B. did it." Old man 

 B. "reckons that C. mou«:ht a done it." But no one 

 knows, so no one suffers except the innocent. 



Even in the case we have just mentioned, while moral 



proof was strong, the act of firing was not seen, so there 



was no legal proof. 



Our law-makers should have interfered in these premises 



long ago ; but soon the people will settle it for themselves, 



for they are awakening to the injury these half-savage law§ 



inflict upon an agricultural community. 



