a man told me last week that florida was too dull for him. he would rust out. there was “more life and human nature on broadway, new york, in 15 minutes than in a week of florida.” so i thought i would see how much “real human nature” the sun could observe as putnam county revolved beneath his eye.
as i came outdoors the sun was bright with hardly a cloud in the sky. the mercury stood at about 65 degrees. most of the bloom had fallen from the orange trees and the young fruit had begun to form, while the new leaves showed their light green against the darker old leaves. on the tree by the gate, there were peaches as large as walnuts. a drove of half-wild hogs from the woods went slowly along the village street, with one eye open for food and the other watching for a possible hole in a fence through which they might crawl into a grove or garden. for while no one seems to think it worth while to bolt or even shut a house door at night except for warmth, there must be barbed wire around every growing thing that a hog could fancy. two red hens with their broods of chickens ran about under the orange trees. in front of the house i found a group of “redheads and towheads” gathered around a fisherman who carried a fertilizer sack. he had caught three young alligators and the children were buying them. they finally got the three for a dollar, and they intend taking the hideous things back to new jersey to “raise” them. you may yet see an improved breed of hope farm alligator. finally the school bell rang and the older children scattered while the little ones played on. i have said that the child crop is a vanishing product in this locality. i understand there are but four white children of school age—not enough to maintain a school! there is a broken and abandoned schoolhouse here, but it has not been occupied for some years. there is a school for colored children. our people opened a school here, but in this locality the state actually does more for educating colored children than for whites. think over what that means and see if broadway can match the “human nature” which comes out of such a situation. our own children are rosy as flowers. they ought to be, for they have played out in the sun every day since december 1. they would have gone barefoot nine days out of ten, but for sand burrs and hookworms—for that dread disease gets into the system through the feet. florida is surely a winter paradise for children and elderly people. as these children pen up their alligators and separate for school and play, an old man walks with firm and active steps down the shaded street to the store. he is 89 years old and is still planting a garden—very likely for the seventieth time! on the platform of the store he will meet a group of men who will sit for hours discussing the weather or looking off through the pines toward the blue lake. on broadway, people are rushing to and fro with set, anxious faces, tearing their hearts out in the fierce struggle for food, clothing, amusement and shelter. there is quite as much “human nature” about these slow and gentle dreamers, basking in the florida sun. in this little place where our folks have wintered there are nine different men who live alone. there are perhaps 30 voters in this district, and strange as it may seem they are about evenly divided between the two great parties. that is because a number of old soldiers have moved in here. they draw their pensions, work their gardens or groves and live in peace in this carefree land. “human nature?” ask these old soldiers with “warfare over,” as the sun goes down and they look out over the lake, why they ever came to florida, and if they are disappointed. if you started a contest with a prize for the man who can take the longest time to travel a mile, i could enter several citizens. yet it was in florida that the world’s record for speed with a motor car was recently made. while some of our neighbors might consume two hours in going a mile, it was in florida that oldfield drove a car one mile in 27⅓ seconds. this contest in speed is a very good illustration of the contrary character of florida climate and conditions. many people fail here because they try to fit broadway “human nature” to this balmy gentle land. you cannot use the same brand!
the forenoon wore off lazily. across the road a man was working a mule on a cultivator—tearing up the surface of an old orange grove. the only auto in the town went by over the pine-paved road, the very cough of the exhaust pipe sounding like a lung rapidly healing in the soft air. charlie went by followed by a big colored man. they carry spades and axes for charlie is sexton, and this is one of the rare occasions when a grave is to be dug, for some old resident is being brought home to be buried.
mother and i had planned to take the train at noon and go south for a few miles to do some shopping and look up a “colony” or land boom scheme. so we got ready and went to the station in ample time. and there we waited, as everyone else does in this land of tomorrow. an hour crawled by, and still there was nothing in sight up the track except the distant pines and the heat rising from the sands. no one quarrels with fate in florida—what is the use? under similar circumstances in new jersey i should have been held in some way responsible for the delay, but here it did not matter—if the train did not come, another day would do. we waited about 100 long minutes and then the good lady announced that she was going home, as there would not be time to get around, and home she went, good-natured and smiling as the florida sun.
let me add that the next day we waited nearly two hours again and then went home once more, but who cares whether he goes today or some future “tomorrow”?
having been cut out of our trip i became interested in the funeral. a little group of wagons was drawn up under the pines waiting for the train. i have said that an old resident was coming “home”—to be buried by the side of husband and relatives—in the rough little cemetery behind the pines. at last, a puff of thick smoke up the track showed where the dawdling train was showing the true speed of a hearse. down the grade it came, halting with many a wheeze and groan in front of the little station where the fated box was taken off. our little funeral procession was quickly made up. uncle ed drove old frank ahead with the minister and the hope farm man as passengers. then came the dead in a farm wagon, and half a dozen one-horse teams straggling on behind. your funeral on broadway with its gilded hearse, black horses and nodding plumes might be far more inspiring. who can say, however, that there was less of “human nature” in this little weatherbeaten string crawling over the florida sand? i was thinking as we went how this dead woman had seen what seemed like the death of hope in this land. for right where we were passing, on these dead fields, she had seen orange groves in full fruitage, and had seen them all wiped out in a day of frost!
you would have said that charlie stood leaning on his spade beside two great heaps of snow. the soil was pure white sand, and as they threw it from the grave it had drifted in over the sides until no dark color showed. on broadway there would have been an imposing procession, the organ pouring out tones that seemed to carry a message far beyond the comprehension of the living. here in this lonely little clearing, my friend the minister led the way, the little group of mourners followed, and charlie and uncle ed with a few neighbors carried the dead. i wish i could have had you there with me—you who say that life and human nature crowd into the “lively” places. i wish i could paint the picture as i saw it.
the minister and the station agent’s wife began to sing. one of the men who helped carry the coffin laid down his load and joined the singers. they wanted me to make a quartette, but i am no musician and i could not have made a sound. it was better for me to stand in the background against a tree, by the side of the colored man who leaned on his shining spade and bowed his gray head. for does not the color line fade out at the grave? i wish you could have seen it, the trio of singers, the sad group under the pines, the earth piled up like snowdrifts, the pine tops quivering and moaning, and the florida sun streaming over all. i felt the pine tree against which i leaned tremble as the wind blew through it. in a tree over us a gray squirrel turned his ear as if to listen. for gathered around those piles of glistening sand were men and women who carried all the world holds of “human nature”—tragedy, despair, hope, sorrow and peace. not 100 feet from where i stood was a row of six little white stones where six old army comrades were buried. i studied their names, six men of the army and navy from new york, maine, new hampshire, south carolina, vermont and ohio. there they lie in the sand, sleeping “the sleep that knows no waking.” and this woman wanted to be brought back to this lonely place that she might rest with her people. “human nature?” i made a dull companion as old frank toiled back with us to the village.
our folks had left the house and i followed them along the shady path to the lake. the younger people had been in bathing. they were sitting on the lake shore, the children were shouting and playing as they ran about the beach. i am glad they were not at the funeral. as mother and i walked slowly back, the little ones came trailing on, waving branches of palm and singing. and there over the fence was our famous gallon-and-a-half cow—easily the most energetic citizen in the place.
night comes quickly in florida and brings a chill with it. the sun seems to tumble directly into the west and to leave little warmth behind. before we ended our slow walk home, darkness had fallen and uncle ed had started a grateful fire of logs. as if to demonstrate the florida axiom that there are only two absolutely sure things—death and taxes—we found the county assessor before the fire. he had reached us on his rounds and was ready to tell us how much we owed the state. you will see therefore that the human life in florida is much the same as anywhere else only “more so” for here there is no artifice or straining after effect. men and women are naturally human—as they were meant to be.
