WRECKS AND WRECKERS.

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ern coast; one of the sad tales of which was that the only daughter of Aaron Burr, returning from Charleston, was taken by pirates, and made to walk the plank! Still later, a remnant of them had their lair at the Belize near the mouth of the Mississippi, to watch for ships coming to New Orleans. But all these nests of piracy were finally broken up as the country became more thickly settled. The "good old times" were gone, and with them "the good old plan

That he should take who had the power,

And he should keep who can."

Pursued in their hiding-places, and cut to pieces, the last of them finally surrendered and made their peace with the Government, by taking service with Gen. Jackson, and fighting bravely at the battle of New Orleans. Since then, we have heard no more of the pirates of the Gulf.

But all dangers of the coast are not over. The sea is not always so smooth as it is this morning. Storms come out of the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Stream which bears its name, and sometimes sweep along the coast with tremendous power. Now and then the Weather Bureau at Washington gives warning of the approach of a cyclone, that is coming up from the South, which may not expend itself till it has cast up wrecks all along the seaboard to Maine. Its first destruction is felt on the coast of Florida, where along the border of the Gulf Stream there are eddies and currents that drive a ship, that has become helpless in the fury of a gale, upon the rocks and reefs. Hence this coast has had a bad reputation for the number of its shipwrecks, and out of this has grown another ugly business: that of "wreckers "- -a rough set of men, who lived along the shores, keeping a lookout for ships that might be caught in gales and storms. It is to be feared that they were not always so full of sympathy as they might have

74

THE LIFE-SAVING STATION.

been for the sufferings of their fellow-creatures; for it is said that they even set decoy lights to mislead seamen in dark nights, and draw them on to destruction. No sooner did they see a ship in the breakers going to pieces, than they pounced on the helpless crew as vultures sweep down upon a camel that has fallen on the desert.

There was a time when this "business" was lively and flourishing, but the "profits" are not what they were. Do you see that little building on a point that overlooks the sea? That is the Life-saving Station, manned by trusty seamen, who keep watch for any accident, great or small. Only yesterday, as some of our party were walking on the seashore, they observed a yacht trying to enter the Inlet. There was no heavy sea, but as the passage is narrow, she fell off to one side, and was soon fast in the sand. There was no danger so long as the sea was smooth, but a strong wind might soon put her in peril. But hardly had the accident occurred before half a dozen stalwart seamen came at full speed from the Station, and lending their stout arms to those of the men on board, soon got her off into deep water again.

But this was a trifling incident compared with some which they have to face, when great ships are utterly wrecked. To meet this appalling danger, the Stations are furnished with life-boats and every appliance for extending immediate relief to those in the utmost peril. If a ship gets on the rocks half a mile at sea, and the waves are running so high that no boat can reach her, there is another resource. In a corner of the Station stands a short but big-throated howitzer, like a huge St. Bernard dog on the top of the Alps, waiting for the moment of greatest peril, when the storm is wildest and the snows are deepest, to show what he can do. Into its capacious mouth the seamen thrust a ball, to which is attached a

SMUGGLING FROM CUBA.

75

long line, and then the gun is pointed high in air and fired, the ball streaming away like a rocket; and as it falls into the sea, it drops its line across the deck of the foundering bark, by which those on board can pull in a heavier rope and make it fast, and then lashing themselves to it one by one, can all at last escape safe to land!

Of course the old wreckers look very sullenly at this interference of the Government with their "legitimate business." What with lighthouses that are seen twenty miles at sea, and life-saving stations all along the coast, there does not seem to be much chance for them to pick up a living in the old way. All that is left for them is to do a little smuggling. Cuba is conveniently near to the Florida Coast, and it is easy to fill a boat with a cargo of Havana cigars, and running in among the "Keys" (as the little islands on the coast are called), secrete their treasure in some hidden nook. But here again they are pursued by evil fortune. Hardly have they got on shore, and are sitting round their camp-fire, when the "myrmidons of the law" swoop down upon them, and "gobble up" the cigars, and "hale" the daring boatmen to prison. These things are trying to the greatest courage and endurance, and we can hardly wonder that they sometimes ask the question, which is asked by tramps and idlers and thieves all over the world, "How is a fellow going to live?" That we leave them to settle among themselves. We feel the same sort of sympathy for them that we do for so many old wharf-rats that have been burrowing under and into a staunch ship, and that are suddenly routed out; and as we see them flying in all directions, we turn with renewed satisfaction to the lighthouses along the coast that have let in daylight upon them, and to the vigilant men who have broken up these old haunts of crime, and say, Blessed be civilization!

CHAPTER VI.

NEW ENGLAND IN THE SOUTH-THE OLD HOME AND

THE NEW HOME.

Florida is not a part of the country in which we should look for New Englanders, any more than for Southerners in the forests of Maine. But the irrepressible Yankee is everywhere, from the Tropics to the Pole. The war sent the men of Massachusetts and other New England States, to the South by tens of thousands, and many found it a goodly land to stay in when the war was over. Of those who marched with their comrades to the North, where the troops were disbanded, some made their way back again, finding the fertile lands and mild climate of the South more attractive than the rocks and snows of New England. But they did not come in great numbers, nor in armed battalions, but at most in small "squads." The greater part indeed came singly. Here and there an old officer, broken in health by his hard campaigns, had come to Florida to die; but after the experience of a few months, concluded to postpone his departure, and still abides in the land, enjoying health and prosperity. More often those who had served in the camp as common soldiers, leaving behind them their knapsacks and their guns,

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77

and with nothing in the world but their strong arms, sought out lonely places in the wilderness where land was cheap, and with their axes made clearings in the forest, and there built them cabins and planted a few acres. Thus coming one by one, in the course of a few years there came to be "quite a sprinkling" of New Englanders through the pine woods of the South; and as they were a hardy tribe, in whom industry and economy took the place of the old shiftlessness, they began to thrive in the land.

Now the Yankees are a clannish race, and when a few of them find themselves within reaching distance, they flock together, using any public occasion-an Agricultural Fair or a Sub-tropical Exposition-to gather round some board, where, as at the cherished Thanksgivings, old memories are revived and old customs recalled. The day which New Englanders have a right to consider as peculiarly their own, is the 22d of December-the day on which the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. But such a celebration is a Movable Feast, the particular day for which may be made to suit the convenience of the celebrators. In Florida the New Englanders who have been North during the Summer and Winter, often return late, and are not all back even in December; so that it was thought better to fix a later day, and for this year they chose the 22d of February, not thinking it a misappropriation of the birthday of the Father of his Country, to devote it to remembering the Pilgrim Fathers.

Accordingly on that day there was a gathering of the clans at Jacksonville-a notable company of typical New Englanders, sturdy in frame, and carrying big heads on their broad shoulders-who had come from all parts of Florida to do honor to their common mother. Of course,

as is usual on such occasions, there had to be a good deal of talking, in which many took part, I among the rest.