“Let us move together while the hand of adversity weighs heavily upon us, just as we have always tried to do when we were more prosperous. Let us take no part in the systematic effort that some are making, to persecute the railway enterprises of Florida at such a time as this, for such persecutors are blinded to their country’s interests. If there was ever a time when the people and the railroads ought to work in perfect harmony that time is at hand. I believe labor ought to be protected in a reasonable and rightful degree, but I also believe that capital ought to be protected against the unrighteous onslaughts of those who know not what they do. “In conclusion, my good friends of Ocala, I beg to thank you again for your generous reception to-night. I believe there is much in the spirit that rules here that bespeaks the dawn of brighter and better days for the people of this region.” The following day a special train took Mr. Plant and his party to Leesburg, where arrangements had been made by the people of that beautiful little town to give Mr. Plant and his friends another ovation of most healthful pleasure and exquisite enjoyment. The Mayor and leading citizens of the place met the party at the railroad station and welcomed them with marked cordiality to their best hospitality and friendship. At the close of a day’s most delightful sailing up Lakes Harrison and Griffin, and many carriage rides on the shores of those beautiful lakes, situated as they are in some of Florida’s most picturesque scenery, the party sat down to a banquet in the hotel given by the Leesburg Board of Trade. “It was truly a feast of reason and flow of soul,” for nothing could have been in better taste or evinced more genuine esteem and friendship for the guest of the occasion than was shown there. On the next day a special train took Mr. Plant and his party to Eustis. At the station all the prominent people in town were gathered to welcome him. Carriages were in waiting to take him and his friends through the beautiful little town. It was with visible emotion that he looked upon the withered, lifeless orange trees bared by the terrible frost of the preceding winter, a drear and desolate scene as compared with the bloom and beauty of other days. Mr. Plant, however, was never given to fruitless murmuring. To a young editor in the carriage with him he said: “No, we must make the best of even the adverse situation. It might be worse. You must publish words of cheer and hope to your people, and do all that you can to help them over this trying time. Suggest to them the planting of other crops, the rearing of other fruits. It will not do to be altogether dependent on oranges. The soil is capable of raising many other things besides oranges, and it may be that this calamity will become a blessing in disguise.” So he ministered good cheer and practical instruction to the people, who felt that he loved them, and who were very responsive to his encouraging words.