Surprising To Northerners

A Palatka (Fia.) letter in the New York Sun, says, At almost any book slore in ihis Suito you can buy a scoro of books, paniphfots and periodicals dcvotcd cxo'.usively to Florida topics. Some of them contain a good doal of informaüon. Yet, having read all of thcm, tlio northcrner in Florida is continually coming upon facts that are new and sui-prising to him. You may bo surprised: To observo that a región which was discovered nenr.y four bundred years ago, and is said to bo so inviting to man, h:is found so few to accept the invit :ition. To find (notw!thstandin all you rcad concerning Florida winters) tho January sun so warm at midday. To lincl (n viuw of all you havo read) so iew wild or cultivaled b!ossoms thcirihg in ilio sun's rays, and so little frasrranco in them. To lind so few birds, barring hawks and oiher birds of prey, warnied into a voiccful mood by the scmi-tropical sua - to lind so few birds of any description. That the duration of twilight is so brief. To find how little covcring you requiro on your bed upon retiring, and to find how rauch covering you wish you had when you wake up toward morning. To sec, upon going outdoors, that tho ground is not covered with frost, and that the flowers (such as thoy are) are not killed. To note how little soil thero is, and how many cnipty tin cans thero are above tho sand. To see orange trees, with rich green leaves and loaded with yeUow fruit, growing out of the gray sand. To come across gardens in which plants and vegetables are growing in great variety and luxuriantly in this same sand. To observo that so few persons have these flourishing gardens, and to be told that not many can afford to buy the quantity of iertilizer this luxury calis for. To find tho sidewalks shadcd by orange troes weightod down by tompting golden fruit To discover that this golden fruit is wild oranges nnd very sour. To be lold that strangers shonld bo cnreful about drinking much of tho water at tirst. 'J'o learn how little self-denial tho obEervanee of this cantion calis for. To seo how yellow most of the native and acdirnated citizens are. To discover before long that you are turning yellow yoursc.f. To noto how fuw persons thoro are who aro past 70 years of age. To see so many idle negro men; to observo that nearly all wear heavy woolen caps, and to loarn that their heads are stül cold. To be told by so many of them that thcy werc "bo'n in the norf." That the negroos in the docks can't work without making such a bedlam. That they can do any work whilo making it. To discover that your water-tight top boots leak eand, and to be told that everybody's boots and shoes contain more or less sand. To be forced lo the conclusión that wherever thero is sand thero are red ants also. To hear the voico of the nocturnal mosquito in midwinter. To wait in vain íor him to settle down and bile, so that you can get a whack at him, and to be told in the morning that mosquitoes haven't energy enough in winter to do much biting. To lind yourselvcs wondcrin? whethcr tiiey, too, aro yellow and Lilious. To be assureJ by a plain and candidappearing white man that the niosquitoes were so thick hcre last summer that they not only darkened the air at high noon, but pütout the lamps which were lighted in the s:ores. To fiiul that there aro biggerand less harmlcjs Hars than he in nearly eyery neighborhood. To havo to fight so many Üies in tho houses in the winter. To bo told that the flies do not come Into the houses in the summer. To reflact that you permittcd your8elf to bo surprised at this information, when it would have been so much moro reasonable to assumo that your informant lied. To come face to faco in the sandy wilderness with a pack of caunt, bony, shaggy beasts of almost every color and resembling nothing you have ever seen before. To be informed afterwo-rd that they were Mr. Julius Lemon's shoats. To be assurod that Mr. Lemon and his family contémplate eating them oltimately.