A Thousand-Mile Walk 



tentment which is an attribute of the best of 

 God's plant people was as impressively felt 

 in this alligator wilderness as in the homes of 

 the happy, healthy people of the North. 



The admirable Linnaeus calls palms "the 

 princes of the vegetable world." I know that 

 there is grandeur and nobility in their char- 

 acter, and that there are palms nobler far than 

 these. But in rank they appear to me to stand 

 below both the oak and the pine. The motions 

 of the palms, their gestures, are not very grace-, 

 ful. They appear to best advantage when per- 

 fectly motionless in the noontide calm and in- 

 tensity of light. But they rustle and rock in 

 the evening wind. I have seen grasses waving 

 with far more dignity. And when our northern 

 pines are waving and bowing in sign of wor- 

 ship with the winter storm-winds, where is the 

 prince of palms that could have the conscience 

 to demand their homage! 



Members of this palm congregation were of 

 all sizes with respect to their stems ; but their 

 glorious crowns were all alike. In develop- 

 [ ii6] 



