Letter From Florida

Special Correspondence of Thk Courikr. DeLand, Florida, March 23, 87. Some notes and facts gatliereü in travel is, I believe, my diie to tlie valuable home paper, theCouiiiER. And as my point of correspondence is Florid, they will be largely notes and facts about this old, yet so lately discovered land. Indeed, I might say a land but beiug discovered. Florida is charming yet illsnppolutinir. It is mucli written nbout yet but slightly known. For while tons of paper are each year consuined in presenting the state and its advantages to northeru touriáts and nvestors yet in many cases it is tODS of paid for imaginatlons. A highly colored plute of things as they hope to have thein or as they conceive it possible for them to become. It is for this latter rvMOfl that I say Florida is but slightly known, except by thot-e whose tours have extended through the state, and who have liever borrowed the glasses of a land agent through which to view their surrOQDdlngi. Wh.it Floridu needs more thun all else is to be understood. Tlie equator has nut asyetcrossed f rom north tosouth through tlie drift sands and yellow pines, the saucer held lakes and slow moving rlvers niaking thU a tropical cliine. The paper city boomers and non-resident speculators have trled to induce the steady goiug old equntorial line to run at least a branch viü Jacksonvllle to Tam pa connectlng with the Mascóte for the DMlo line south, but the tliing has fallen through m a fact, thoujfh the scintillating sparks thrown off in the attempts stlll give the weird lights that covers the pathway of the well-oaid reporter - alas, that reveáis my journallstic value; but it is written. In talking with a man whose interesta are entlrely in the state, he made this remark: "It is time people gave up the idea that Florida is located at the tropics." There has been one point in which Florida has been abused and practically maligned in the so-called house of its friends. Ledan, by the rosy hued stories of the Neapolitan sky literature of Uiis suuny land, people from the north have come by the thousands into iw borders, dreaming all the way of vast stretches covered with orange groves, where golden ripe orunges, green fruit, and flagrant blossoms niingle their dissonance into a deep harmony twelve montlis in the year. Then, too, they look for the full list of the üdvertised tropical aroductions, all of which they are to enoy, trom the Irigidness of the clime "rom which they came, yet equally freed Toni the discomfort the tropical laadt. Indeed there seems to be on the part of nany who come, a sort of expectancy, that there is to be found a ready made climate with which they can readily and x-licitously correspond. Not realizine their dreams in tliig direction they ar out at onoe with the country, aml if slior time tourist # away williout jrainin any opprecUtlon of the real Florida tha is in itsL'lf truly charming. The day in which I aiu wrlting to yo described iu wal] understood terins, Is May diiy with a June toilet on. ü course, the ritst blossoming of the oran trees is past, yet aml there are fouuc the fragrant, waxy petals In tlieir fiiowy WliiteneiS and rare fragrance. Tl; roses, howtver, are in full bloon and luxuriant grovvth. But the June mild ness of the atmosphere lias bcen,;vith tht exception of oue day, Wnallng, The lowu of my present locatiou i ainoiif; the estnhlished facts, and re values of Florida. DflLand Is u beautifully looatad tawn, linding its site in the center, north and south, und on the crest between the St. John's river and Atlantic Met of a ridge of uudulatin hills, covered with yellow jiine in its earliest lilatory but now the home of thomunds- mark that, home not resort. lts once piue eovered bllll are now beaulllied and madeexueedinxly valuable by orange orchards, mid small lowns. ín th it lalter expresión, liowever, I do not uclude DeL-unl, since tliU $; u city of 400 inliabitants- not resorters- is supplied witli tliree hotel, eijflit churclies, h gWded pubüc scliool, and che DeLuad University, i BChool founded by llie generosity of Mr. DeLind and proinlslni; to beconie mider its present etllcient niaiiijjeinpiit tlie center of f ar extendiiijr educitiomil influcnces. It is so well manned thiiteven i student in the liteiary course of our own famed Univt-rsity, il' torced hy the rigor of cl i mat e from a semester, could here, with the possibility of out doorexercisu in a mild atmospheie, yet flnd hiniself keepiu{ pico with his class. The business portion of the town was almost auihilated by tire in September of 1886, but like Chicago, it has1 proved a blessinif, for in the place of wooden 8tructures, brick blocks have been huilt or are In the process of construction, ;ivinif n substuntial and northerii look to the town. As it was nevcr a paper city or purely spcenlative town inucli of iis substantiality is aocotuïted for. There are lmid agent here of course, and property is constantly chauging hands, yet from the tirst it luis heen a city of homesFrmn the window at which I am seated there is n beautlful view of the place, as the I'arceland Home, is localeil upon a rise, its wide verand alis faeiu' the town In niv mxt I will ooilfldar facts of value about Florida, and paper eitjes. ToURWT. Judge Landon did not Land-on the right side of the popular heart, evidently. Keep the date of April 22d for the Iiernhard Llaterman n Oiiicinnati Co. Tlic Chicago Muil says Jiidjít1 Cnoley lias preaidentiiil aspirations, and reliuquislied the lat Wabash ruceivership and accepted the lean commissionership because he ttaoaght it a step in that diiection. The Ionia Standard gives the Judfre's appointment tliis Irft-liaml compliment: "It ia discouraging to hump ovraelrei to retire npablioui lo prívala lile, only to see tliom given slill botter jobs ty a democratie president.'1 In a long and laboree] editorial in a recent issue of tlie Detroit Kveninr News, that paper takes the gronnd that denomiMatiiinnl colleges in Michigan are fiilly as good and m ticli more econoinIcal tlmn in our State Uuiversity. Tliis i a siv entering wedge of the News to accomplish the downfall of Uit Iniv.rsity lirst, and ader tliat (Mir public actlool syátem, and the división of achool fnnds among the various deuuminitions. The editorial writur of tlie News is perhaps oiip of the brijrhtest and slirewdest in the Union, and liis deáire to thui advance liis owa church, (the prtetta "l wlilcb in every puiish Inrit upon parochUl fohóota for the education of their own children) is commendable, in liini, of OOtirce. lint whether he can convince tlie people of Michigan, ortheir represent at Kansing, that they should abolMl the pitsent most excellent adooatlonal iystem of the state, and turn over to tlie church tliis work of education, is douhtlul.