EDUCATOR 121 



it is very gloomy. Every house and store shut up tight, 

 without a gleam of light. Contrary to all precedent, it has 

 rained every day but three since my coming here, and I 

 cannot truthfully say anything more about my health 

 than that my bark is on the island." 



It would seem from this parody on Byron's line and pun 

 on the word "bark" that his cough had not subsided. 



The weather was unfavorable, and finding that his stay 

 on the island was not likely to prove beneficial, he crossed 

 over to the mainland and settled for a few days at Jensen, 

 Florida. There was at once a marked change in his con- 

 dition and he writes March 7 : 



"Here I am in this beautiful little town on the Indian 

 River drawing in life and health with every breath I draw. 

 Have ceased coughing, can breath like a major and even 

 survey the intricacies of my collar-button, or the lacing 

 of my shoe-strings without a quiver. A narrow island 

 separates us from the ocean, and I fall asleep to the mur- 

 muring of the wind and the steady beat of the surf. No one 

 could help getting well in the soft, balmy air and beautiful 

 sunshine. But the old problem of steering by the North 

 Star confronts me worse than ever, for the sun rises in the 

 South and the Big Dipper is upside down. How can I 

 right myself when all signs fail? I think I shall stay here a 

 week longer and then go to Jacksonville. 



"The Indian River horrible misnomer, for an arrant 

 arm of the sea that has lost its way and goes wandering 

 along some hundred miles or more is chuck-full of 

 fish, and you cannot look upon it without seeing half a 

 dozen or more splendid red mullets leap into the air and 

 fall back with a splash into the water. All manner of tropi- 



