"THE SUNSHINE CITY" 195

At the station we are met by the Director of
Music and Community Singing, and on arrival
at the hotel by the proprietor, a strong supporter of
public recreation, who at once informs us that
we are to be his guests during the period of our
stay, " An honour, sir, to entertain a guest
with a mission like yours." A few minutes
later arrives the Director of Recreation himself,
a gentleman all fire and electricity, who promises
to show me next day the work of his life; and
with him his friend the Mayor (who is to preside
at my meetings); the City Superintendent of
Education; a clergyman who declares that the
Recreation Movement is the next best thing in
the world to the Gospel of Jesus Christ—" Yes,
sir,* and a part of it, too "—and a reporter from
the newspaper which has challenged the sun.
Such is the manner of our welcome to the Sun-
shine City.

The day is Sunday, and in the afternoon we
have a sample of Community Singing* as they
practise it every Sunday afternoon in St. Peters-
burg. The scene is a vast auditorium at the end
of the pier; some 4,000 people of all ages have
come to sing. Looking out from the windows
—the place seems to be all windows—we watch
the many yachts sailing hither and thither on
the wine-dark waters of the Gulf of Mexico,
their sails gleaming white in the sunshine; the
pelicans wading and gobbling on the sea margins;
hundreds and hundreds of seemingly naked