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Show Now He Loafs in Florida, Catching Fish, Mermaids By OAUKHAGE NfU't Analyst and Commentator. FORT PIERCE, FLA. As you read these lines I expect to be back where the quiet along the Potomac will be disturbed dis-turbed by the plans for an old-time inauguration party and the beginning of a new legislative year. But as I write I can see the blue of the Indian river whose eastern shore line is a slim silhouette of palm trees screening the Atlantic beyond. When I stand up I can look over the seawall and watch mullet Jumping higher than I ever saw a fish leap except when the Washington state salmon were hurdling the falls on their way to spawn. A little way north of here a wide Inlet breaches the natural strip of beach and dune, ri'QiB"! scrub pine and I r'--Yff cabbage palm T ' which forms a part 1 Vlt ' tne Darricr ke-: ke-: ' 'J&jVJ; twecn tne ocean Mttlr fl and the Ereat in" ' jk f 'nn(l waterway f ' stretching from l P ew or't harbor j lit to Miami. !LS-;f3L These occasional !f&$:JF Intrusions of the '$iT?ftftt ocean don't dis- l 'ivi - turb the Indian "...iTWr-f river ln the giight- BAUKIUGE est for through the dredged channels come the fish and the deep-sea fishing boats, the shrimpers and the freighters that mingle with the trim pleasure craft ln the yacht basin. Approaching this spot on land you are welcomed by the brilliant red of the Turk's Caps, the flower that never opens never has to. Perhaps It Is too lazy. It loafs along the ditches, growing wild in fields or tamed in gardens, showing no envy for its more aristocratic sister, the hibiscus which throws its flames out In wide tongues, the dainty bouganvlllea blossoms, or the languorous poinsettia. When a crane flashes up from the river edge, a polished silver streak In the sun, you know you have left the northern t'lty canyons far behind. Now the groves. Ripening orangea among the leaves shine lllu little lit-tle golden beads against rich, green velvet tapestry. Quite a different green from the dell-cato dell-cato tint of the little lizard sunning himself on the window screen beside mo. He would match the tender tint of the clusters of new pine needles undulating un-dulating In a breeie that keeps the paints fanning themselves with their rippling fronds. I am met In new, blue truck which also transports fish, groceries and whatnot even a marauding wildcat which has suffered his Just deserts among the palmettos at dawn. Over the cottage great bulbous blossoms of the yellow trumpet vine are waiting until the sun sets to send out their intoxicating perfume. per-fume. The next day starts, as it should, on the river. Overhead are the . soaring flshhawks, the nervous v kingfishers, the greedy, speedy and graceful black cormorants and high above all the tireless man-of-war birds with their wide sweeping wings, like an upper-case M. which never seem to change their shape. Little snappers are so thick that we couldn't bait fast enough, but we are fishing for our supper! And so days pass with no sense of time passing with them trout and a few fighting jacks that flop and grunt but which Is of little interest in-terest to the commercial fisherman. Not a "honey-money" fish like a trout or pompano, as my wife would say, making a little more euphemistic the terminology of the commercial fisherman. Bill Turner smiles. He knows the personal histories and habits hab-its of the furred, feathered or finny folk that inhabit these parts and gets as much pleasure pleas-ure out of seeing somebody else Ian I a catch as he dues doing It himself. And he has an uncanny un-canny sixth sense that takes him straight to the spot close to the bank In the jrern shadow of the mangroves, outside on reef, deep In the cuts wherever fish will be If fish there are. ... I watch my wife pull ln four speckled beauties. I get none. Hint's not whnt the male animal ordinarily calls good fishing. But I don't resent the fact that she Is thf fisherman In this family. In ' ' ' 1 i . . i - r . " ;.. '1 m IpU r- I' ' V.- i . i'. . "' . .1. . ' . ' , J j .I..UlllaH IMI 11 I I Mil I Vb) ! liiiukhnKC and Frim.. fact as far as I am concerned, she, not Hernando de Soto, discovered the place. ... I land a snook, enough! Fried, with corndogers, crisp and golden brown, a salnd of grapefruit, oranges, pineapple and fresh cocoanut from the backyard, back-yard, that snook Is delicious. And so to bed. Next day I go after a different spcclesf marine fauna. (See accompanying ac-companying photograph.) Mermaids Mer-maids aren't as ham to find as they used to be before that ingenious in-genious creature, homo-press-agen-ticuS, was discovered and carefully cultivated by the chambers of commerce com-merce of all energetic resorts. Although I didn't Intend to make a busman's holiday out of my vacation va-cation I couldn't help getting one or two Interviews. I called on Douglas Silver, president presi-dent of the local chamber of commerce. com-merce. I had known him when his beat was Broadway and the New York advertising district. His office of-fice was as busy as one in the Merchandise Mart or Radio City. "Do you like it any better here?" I asked him. "In some ways it's worse," he said. I nearly fell off my chair. Such a utatement from a Flo-ridlan! Flo-ridlan! He saw my consternation, consterna-tion, Immediately realized my misunderstanding, and hastily proceeded to put me right. "1 see you don't mean what I mean," he said. "I thought you were asking me if I like work any better here. Frankly, I have the same allergy to useful efTort that you have. But work for you up north is all you have to do. Now look our there." He pointed out the wimlow to a gentleman ln wrinkled' slacks and a faded khaki shirt sitting sit-ting in a boat out on the river. Even from where we stood we could see the look of almost childish child-ish contentment on his tanned face. Just then he stood up and began be-gan reeling In his taut line. Silver gave one look and pushed back his chair. "Listen," he said, "I can finish up what I have to do In about 15 minutes and we'll get right out there. But to answer your question: work is no better here than any place but the difference here is that when you quit you don't have to take a train or a plane to get where you really want to be you're there already." Shrimp Also Abound There The lizard has moved over to get into a patch of sunlight leaking through the leaves of the magnolia tree. Some shrimp boats are coming in through the inlet. This is probably the biggest shrimping port south of Savannah. I think I will go over and see if I can't get some nice fat nn Hill Tumor will rlenn them until they are sweet and delicate as a newly opened gladiolus. They will be boiled with Just the right amount of salt. They will be chilled (not drowned in Ice water until they are mushy). My wife will do something miraculous miracu-lous to the sauce. How I long for that dish. Why I haven't had a real shrimp for I don't know how long-it long-it must have been as long ago c yesterday at lunch! Fort Pierce Hat Hittory Fort Pierce was a real fort once built in '838 as one of the chain of east coast defenses against the Indians. It was a strategic point on the Indian river because a natural opening to the sea permitted permit-ted easy water communication with the north. Settlers came, fought off the Indians, planted their pineapples, pine-apples, citrus groves, and vegetables vege-tables for the winter markets. Later the artificial inlet was dredged so the big ships could dock. Florida played more of a part In the Civil war than most textbooks record. It was the food basket of the Confederacy and also one of the great blockade running bases, and I have no doubt these ruts sheltered shel-tered many a contraband cargo going to or from Cuba or the Hlim as Uiey did In the day of the rum runner. The town felt the shock of World War II. literally felt it, for the , submarines crept cIom, to the coast and explosions rocked tlie j houses far Inland. Wounded sur-I sur-I vlvors were brought In and cared for here as In other coast towns. Lnter, brcnuse land and water conditions con-ditions could be simulated ti re senibte the terrain in the Pacific, 1 ll became the country's largest amphibious training btse. |