| Show T TREE EE OF FLORIDA A Orly to be Ir the V I Vest Vat UW W WU Among lie Ule many wonders ot of those thOle Strange swamps ampe there Id more rising C than the blushing tree said Id Albert F Dewey of oC Punta Gorda IMs who laG h late re recently I a month In the ot of Florida Florilla MIr 11 Dewey spent pent some ume time lime recently I In fA the oleos omrea ot of the Colorado k II I rn railway In the build building In hta hi friend T E Jol her the len gen lenI 1 passenger agent says the 1 OIt I 1 i e JI s a prominent ot of South I t 1 And ls II at the tho head of the otte harbor Stevedore and Light fI which owns the cele ole tug tUI Albert Jo F Dewey The I carried camet dispatches fur the New r herald durl during l the Cuben war arid wen well known In Gulf waters At Al nt he II bound for the HawaIIan lahde where he Intends Intend t to ll syend end the y blushing tree tn continued Mtr lr Dewey I Is by no means It la III foam only In the densest thickets of 01 thee hOM terminable t marshes whose lux c urla t vegetation I la a to ex eK It Is III called the blushing tree treeby by bT tho those who know It because tt It Mc ac act t blushes when the rain falls upon f It IL is II apparently In III Int IIII t I It never falls fall to as astound I there Who tee see It for the tint I c time The mysterious anti and beautiful glow of oC color which It assumes In R a rain term bellies description The Seminole who once rull Florida have always alway known knowlI of th the tree and in III their language now fait fust dl log In have Words mean The Th 1 maiden tree which reddens at the C coin I tag ot of her ber lover the rain raiD In company with a taciturn Indian guide Id I 1 journeyed forty mil miles tu 1 see Nfl this marvelous bit of vegetable JIle Ilfe I could 8 scarcely believe tb tory story he told the yet tet curiosity at length overcame In Incredulity incredulity credulity ant and we CO rat lit forth one olle morning In a small canoe We spent nearly three chree da days paddling and poling our way over the winding waters around In Innumerable numerable islands of green reen and past great rookeries ot of birds with brilliant plum plumage we slowly woun wound our course Huge uI ugly alligator frequent frequently I ly a appeared In III the sluggish waters end eyed u us with or suspicion ul don Graceful slender legged Jelled little deer bounded away from the banks bank at our approach Occasionally a wildcat sprang hastily Into a thicket t All as we rounded a curve eure Sometimes the waterway narrowed down to Co a rOt rod In Iii width an and again It In a bayou ot of IL a hundred acres arre or morE Now how aud ara then the Che Indian guiding our fragile craft to the Che shore would slip Into the bushes with search learch searching ing eyes to return In 1 a few moments shaking his head The tree of blushes lied not been i Iou found lid In the afternoon of th the third day I began to wonder It if he ha had only been deceiving me for tor the sake ake of the hire and his hili pay as II guide when lIP he Ira gate I a grunt of 01 satisfaction and painted to Co the right keenly In that I 1 saw only an Island picturesque and lonel lonely like e thou thousand others we lied seen I 1 shook hook In my head RII as he quickened the stroke ut of hl hk paddle toward the green Isle It If the trl tree wa was not to he found here as 18 n in III other races I would 1 c the lying redskin a blessing not to h be forgotten n nand and order a return to the yacht Distrustfully II I followed him ashore and through th the underbrush Beneath Deneath great press 1 trees hoary with the tbt 11 gray hanging muse mUll and past Immense ba bay trees we wended our WIl way Eagerly lie he ted the Nay ay until reaching the edge ot of 1 n little open space pace he stop stopped ped 1 and with silent pride pointed to toward toward ward the center Gracefully a tree with broad banana like leaves lelve reared itself loft aloft Wide spreading branches hUD hung down slightly waving In the warns WAnn Its emerald hued foliage tolle YU wu this most beautiful I h had d ever cr beheld It rose lOIe to a height or twenty tNt feet and its III thick substantial trunk indicated many years eRN ot of existence This the old Seminole me was wal the blushing tr tree I told him to Ire prepare are to ramp camp laM here until It rained of time W We unrolled our blankets It stretched retched our mosquito bars which on one con connot not sleep In the glades cooked supper r raM and aM rolled up In our for the PiNt night Rt at the setting tUn of the sun lun That night the day following and the next night PUlled passed without rain I 1 be began an to think Chink ft 1 would never rain when about noon a cloud darkened the sky Illy overhead I put IUt a rubber poncho over m my shoulders and fixed my eyes un on lime green arten and ond pretty tree II a dosen yards away ay R H wu was covered with a greenish Insect the ot of a large wood tick which Intensified Its color The rain be began gan to 10 tall fall In torrents after Its Butom In that region on Reside mt me grinning con with a pipe In hi his mouth stood the Seminole AA A the tb cool col water drenched the tr trI tree I was AI to note n changing ot of color Gradually yet unmistakably the green hue hUI WI was giving 1111 WRY way to pink I 1 could not lIot belle believe my eyes fye Wes al I 1 mS moe Hum Hastily 1 strode forward up to Ito ItA very trunk and under It its spread pd branches to obtain a closer took ook The Indian had AI told tolt the truth The tree WIll was at the rain In a few rew minutes the green n had fa tadd eI ed from eight Only Onh In II a tew half hidden hId hIdden den spots beneath broad branches branch and oat It its I trunk WILl was there thre Q n tinge ot of green to ho be seen n The tree wa Was as pink as AI the cheek of It a healthy girl Astounded I remained silent while the Indian muttered words of self It praise Irel and satisfaction Hub was he not a great Semi Seminole nolo to show how the white stranger such uch II a tree trpe link Huh the Ian land landof ot of snow all and money had nothing like thle Kuhl The north was waa probably a great country but It had no tree that Chat turned color In ii the After lter an hour or more the shower passed over and I watched with no less interest the wonderful tree assume its familiar green once more nor As AI It was a changing bark back to emerald I suddenly realized tile the Iter secret rei ot of the phenomenon The tiny Insects and not the tree tlell Itself changed hanle color Th These peculiar parishes are am possessed of the lower or of chame chameleons leons In the bright warm sunshine they ore are greener than the tree Irp on which they live but when the hilly chilly rain fells upon them the they contract their little backs and become a pret pretty pink In color Millions ot of them thus change the tint ot of the Che tree The They are found only upon one species ot of trees which grow In certain parts pari ot of the Everglades l I paid my guide twirl twice what wha t hp he asked for his hili services and departed from Ida with a feeling that T i had seen one or of the Che wonders wondell o of the world |
