Petals Plucked from Sunny ClimesBrooks, A. M. (Abbie M.)
History
Petals Plucked from Sunny Climes
Brooks, A. M. (Abbie M.)
Cuba -- Description and travel; Florida -- Description and travel; Florida -- History
Many persons come here with unhappy temperaments, to whom peace and
contentment in any place, or under all circumstances, has been
deficient, but always vainly expecting to find happiness hanging on
every new object they meet, waiting for them to pluck; but,
unfortunately, it hangs so high they can never reach it--when they
commence abusing every thing with which they come in contact. We hear
them constantly exclaiming, "Too much sand! too little to eat! too high
prices for things!" Nothing can please them. Their faces are drawn up in
disgust, and their tongues ready to strike with the venom of contempt,
at every person who has a good word to say in favor of Florida.
The unbroken quiet which has been with us since we left Savannah is
interrupted as soon as the steamer touches the Jacksonville wharf. We
are importuned and jostled on every side by black boys, dray and
carriage-drivers, who worry us for our baggage, raising their whips with
the imperious movement of a major-general, and suddenly lowering them at
half mast when we say, No! Then the officious hotel-runners, who scream
in our ears to patronize the houses that employ them, until we are on
the verge of desperation, and feel as though the plagues of Egypt could
not have been worse. Most of these public criers are dirty, ragged, and
lazy, having no legitimate vocation, except what they can make from
visitors, or in drumming for boarding-houses. This city has fine
accommodations, and for that reason receives more envy than admiration
from other Florida towns. It can furnish more than one hundred good
places of entertainment, among which may be found several colossal
hotels, capable of containing two or three hundred guests, also
boarding-houses of less pretentious dimensions, where, no doubt, a
nearer approximation to the acknowledgment for value received is oftener
realized. Selections can be made where money may be expended rapidly or
slowly, according to the inclination of the visitor. Here, as in other
places, we meet with boarding-house complainers. This class of grumblers
must remember that hotel-keepers stand fault-finding as quietly as a
delinquent schoolboy his deserved punishment; they are used to it; they
expect it, and would be disappointed if they did not get it.
The influx of visitors commences sooner some seasons than others. The
first cold blast from the North sends the feeble invalid South to bask
in the summer sunshine of a milder atmosphere, and when spring comes he
returns home like the migratory birds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account