All the ladies of Florence excel in the domestic virtues. No gadding abroad. They demean themselves with that modesty and attention to their domestic affairs, beyond any ladies I have seen in the State. Mrs. Coffee (a niece of Mrs. General Jackson), comes to preaching in a plain bonnet and calico dress. General Coffee was here since I arrived, and appears to be much reduced since I saw him in Huntsville. His constitution was much injured by the hardships he suffered in the army. I was never in speaking of James Jackson. It is said he is a native of Ireland. Mrs. Ward, Mrs. Gibson and Mrs. Southworth, the printer’s wife, and several others, are charming women. Captain Gibson, a son of the brave Colonel Gibson, of Tennessee, is one of the most amiable men on earth. It is unaccountable why such a number of physicians should flock into this country. Every town is flooded with them. They are strung along the roads like so many blacksmith’s shops. You can either walk or ride, but you have a physician on each side, one in front, and one in rear. Here are seven in Florence, seven more went away for want of room. There are also here, six lawyers. I left thirteen doctors in Courtland, a much smaller place. One hundred passed through the latter, south, unable to get in. You cannot, as I stated before, travel a mile on any great road, without meeting with a doctor’s shop. But this is not all. Almost every practising doctor has three or four students. I have known mechanics quit their trade and commence the study of medicine. [Illustration: Florence, Alabama THE COMING CITY OF THE SOUTH] In writing the story of Florence, it is our intention to do it in a different way from the usual method of writing such stories. Trotwood’s Monthly is known as the magazine that is “Different” and we want to be that way. The fact that “John Smith came here in 1869, commenced farming under innumerable disadvantages, was married on February 5, 1874 to Miss Mary Jones, and that the union was blessed with several children, and that his sterling worth as a citizen and business man, is highly appreciated, etc., etc.,” may be gratifying to the vanity of John Smith, but does it help Florence? We think not, and will, therefore, write the story in a “Different” way. [Illustration: Old Lauderdale County Courthouse, 1822-1900.]