144 



THE OOLOQI8T 



Our boat arrived in Jacksonville 

 about the 15th of December and we 

 went up there intending to row down, 

 a good 15 miles I guess but the water 

 and wind were too much for us, so we 

 got abroad the small passenger boat 

 going our way and towed the skiff. 



On the morning of the 17th we were 

 up bright and early rea'dy to row or 

 sail to our destination, Moss Bluff, on 

 the Ocklawaha river about 200 miles 

 off. We rowed all day long and when 

 night overtook us we were just above 

 Arlington about three miles across 

 from Jacksonville. 



We camped for the night on the 

 shore, under a big magnolia tre? and 

 slept on a Spanish moss bed right out 

 doors, and it was certainly a cold night 

 too. I never was so tired in my life; 

 just "flopped" down on to that hard 

 bed and dreamed I was on a feather 

 one upon the Ocklawaha with all 

 kinds of birds singing merrily all 

 around me. 



In the meantime we had been wait- 

 ing for some powder to come down 

 from the North, but it never came, so 

 were stranded in Arlington, for a 

 month. (Couldn't buy powder in Flor- 

 ida.) 



Our quarters while there was an old 

 real estate office, I was the "Chief 

 cook and bottle washer" and certainly 

 did a lot of experimenting. Every 

 morning I fried what Worthington 

 called griddle cakes but in this section 

 we call them "flippers," b'gosh. 



We didn't see many birds while 

 here. Every Sunday the woods were 

 full of darkies with modern shot guns 

 who kept wild life down pretty well I 

 gusss. 



There was a large gang of convicts 

 here repairing the roads with shells. 



I climed my first orange tree at Ar- 

 lington. It had one huge yellow fruit 

 at the very top that I couldn't dislodge 

 with a club, so 1 decided to climb it. 



While climbing this tree I decided if 



I were a Florida orange grower I 

 would keep my trees well pruned. 1 

 wouldn't have liked to fall in a bunch 

 of trees like that one. 



After a few minutes which seemed 

 years I got my "paws," on to that 

 orange and prepared to land, and de- 

 vour him, but Lord when I got a piece 

 into my mouth I thought is was some 

 kind of a decoy orange loaded with 

 vinegar and alum. I found out after 

 it was a wild one. 



While walking in the woods near 

 Arlington I came upon a dead cow, 

 which was covered with black vul- 

 tures. They were sure a dirty lot and 

 reminded me of our Crows up North, 

 but they (vultures) of course were 

 very much larger and tamer, almost 

 bold. 



I saw several specimens of mistletoe 

 in the treetops, also nice holly trees 

 while here. There was a small tur- 

 pentine "still" at Arlington and it was 

 interesting to watch the darkies at 

 work around it. It smelled nice 

 around there, too. 



There were quite a lot of moving 

 picture actors in action around Arling- 

 ton, roses were plentiful also, but 

 there was plenty of cold disagreeable 

 rain and wind Every morning it sure 

 was some chilly; a damp penetrating 

 chill that I never have felt up North. 

 We had to pile a lot of blankets on us 

 at night to keep warm. 



Finally got some powder from Bir- 

 mington, Alabama. 



We left Arlington January 16th and 

 proceeded upstream propelled by 

 "elbow grease." 



The Clyde boat "Osceola," passed 

 us going down stream in a few hours 

 and it seemed to me that we were 

 leaving civilization behind, but I 

 thought we had to do that to see many 

 birds. 



We rowed hard all that day against 

 a heavy wind and water and night 

 found us opposite a resort named 



