CHAPTER VI
JASMINE AND CHEROKEE ROSES
Almost a half century ago Harriet Beecher
Stowe lived on the banks of the St. Johns River
and wrought for noble ideals in her own brave,
cheery way. In "Palmetto Leaves" she tells of
the beautiful country round about her home, of
the three great live-oaks that sheltered it, and of
a caged cardinal grosbeak that used to sit on his
perch by her door and sing enthusiastically,
"What cheer! What cheer!" The slaves for
whom she wrote and wrought are now but a
memory, and the State of Florida itself forbids
the caging of wild birds, however sweetly they
sing or however cheerily they bear their captivity.
The fine old house that nestled beneath the live-oaks
so confidingly that its broad veranda partly
clasped one of them has long since been torn
down; and its very foundations obliterated by
the tangle of wild verdure that rises here so soon
from the unvexed earth; but the live-oaks
remain, towering with rounded heads still
