e immediate vicinity. There is an abundance of
fruit as well, and frequently the blossoms on the fruit trees make a
lovely flower show in themselves.

The State arms are very peculiar and appropriate. The main figure is
that of an Indian lying upon a bank, scattering flowers around him. In
the distance the sun is setting amid beautiful hills. In the center
there is a river with a steamboat upon it, and with a large cocoanut
tree growing by the side. The State's motto is one which has been
adopted by many communities, but which is ever welcome for the
purpose--"In God We Trust."

In regard to its climate, Florida can offer a great deal of variety.
Consumptives by the tens of thousand have sought a renewed lease of life
in the warmest sections of the State, and many have come back greatly
benefited. The winters are of the Indian summer order, being singularly
dry, healthy and free from dust. The Gulf Stream adds from five to ten
degrees to the temperature in cold weather, and in the southern section
the temperature rarely gets below freezing point. The exceptionally cold
spell of 1894-95 may be quoted as quite an exception to the general
rule, and the heavy loss to growing fruits was as great a surprise as it
was a loss.

Florida has the honor of being the first portion of North America to be
discovered by white people. Ponce de Leon, whose very name is suggestive
of romance and poetry, explored a section of the country in the year
1513, when he proclaimed the sovereignty of Spain over it. In 1527, a
Spanish company of soldiers attempted to drive out the native
inhabitants. The attempt failed, but another one some fourteen years
later was more successful. Spain was not given a clear title to the
peninsula without protest. French Huguenots built Fort Caroline on St.
John's River at about the middle of the century. Shortly after this
enterprise, a Spanish fleet surprised and annihilated the pioneers, upon
whose graves they placed the inscription, "Not as Frenchmen, but as
Lutherans." This brutal attempt to give a religious aspect to the murder
was resented very soon after. A French expedition captured the fort,
hung the garrison one after the other, announcing that they did so, and
hanged the ruffians "Not as Spaniards, but as traitors, thieves and
murderers."

West Florida was settled at the close of the Seventeenth Century, and in
1763 the territory now included in the State was ceded to Great Britain
in return for C