Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1855-06-28

3
illogical finger-post points to the testifying
fossil. We might, in pursuing this subject
sail upon the broad pinons of conjecture
into the remote, or flutter with lighter
wings in the regions Of fable, but it is un.
necessary: the mysterious passages of Ma.
ture are ever opening freshly around US,
and in her stony volumes, amid the cacare-
Gus strata, we behold the precious mollusc
the primeuaL JiUalut,
] 'rock.ribbed, and ancient as the sum-"
BRYANT.
Yet of this early history we know moth.
ing. Etymology throws but little light up.
on the matter. In vain have we carried
our researches into the vernacular of the
maritime Phenicians. or sought it amid the
fragments of Chsldean and Assqrian lore.
To no purpose have we unayzed the roots
of the comprehensive Hebrew, or lost our
selves in the battling labyrnths of Oriental
Sanscrit. The history of the ancient oys-
ter is written in no language, except the
universal idiom Of the secondary strata!
Nor is this surprising in a philosophical
point of view. Setting aside TIE pre.Adam.
tiles, and taking Adam as the fist name
girer, when we reflect thai Adam lived IN
land, and therefore never saw the succulent
periphery IN it's native mud, we may deduce
this reasonable conclusion, viz: that as he
never saw it, he probably never NAMED it
never, mot even to his most intimate
friends. Such being the case, we must
seek for information in a later and more
enlghtend age. And here let me take oc-
casion to remark, that oysters and inteii-
! Cchce are nearer allied than many persons
imagine. The relations between phvsio-
logy and psychology are beginning TO be bet
ter understood. A man might be scintllant
with facetiousness over a plump "S!h.rews
bury who would make a yc1y sorry figure
over bowel of wc.;ter Cruel.
The geEr,ie, indolent Brahmin, the litter
-te Laplander, the ferocious Libvan, the mer-
curial Frenchman, and the stolid,Q beg your
pardcn) the sta',oart Englishmen, are not
more various in their mental capacities than
in their table aesthetics. And even in this
country we see that. wit and oysters come in
together with September, and wit and oys-
tiers, 60 out together in Maya circumstan-
ce not without its weight, and peculiarly
pertinent to .he subjec,-matter. With this
brief, but not irrelevant DEPRESSION. will pro-
ceed. We have "OStreun" from the Latins,
"OeSter" from the Saxons, "Auster" from the
Te ltons, "OStra," from the Spaniards, and
"Huitre" from the French--words evidently
Of common origin-threads spun from the
same dstaff! And here our archaeology mar
rows to point, aud this point is the pearl
we are in search Of, viz: the genesis of most
excellent fish.
"Words evidently derived from common
origin" What origin? Let us line the
venerable page of history. Where is the first
mention made Of oysters! Hudibras says:
-"The Emperor Cagula,
Who tiumphed DER the British seas,
Took crabs and OYSTERS prisoners tmurk that
And Holsters, steal of cuirasSiers:
Engaged his legions in fierce bus,les
With periwinkles. prawns and muscles,
And led his troops with furious glllops,
To charge whole regiments of scallops;
Not, like their ancient way of war,
To wait on his triumphul car,
But when he went to dine or sup,
Moro bravely ate his captivcs up;
Leaving all war by his example,
Reduced--to victling Of a samp WE'LL"
oystersj and we now approach the cynosure
of inquiry. From this we infer that oysters
came originally from Britain. The word is
unique stonably primitive. The broad, open,
vowelly sound is, beyond Doubt ,the primal
spontaneous though. that found utterance
when the soft, seductive mollusc first exposed
its white bosom in its pearly shell to the en-
raptured gaze of aborigina. man! Is there a
question about it! Does not every one know,
when he sees an oyster, that thai is its nanae3
And hence we reason that it originated in
Britain, was latinized by the Romans, replevi-
ned by the Saxons, corrupted by the Teutons,
and finally barbecued by the French. Oh,
pathological ladder by which We mount upward
until we emerge beneath the clear vertical
light of truth!
Methinks see the First Oyster Eater! a
brawny, naked savage, with his wild hair mat
ted ove- his wild eyes, zodiac of fiery stars
tattooed across his muscular breast--unclad,
unsandaled, hirsute and hungry--he breaks
through the underwoods that margin the beach
end stands alone upon the seashore, with
nothing in one hand but his unsuccessful
boar-spear, and nothing in the other but his
fist. There he beholds splendid panorama!
The West all glow; the conscious waves
blushing as warm sun sinks to their embra-
ces, the blue sea on his let, the interminable
forest on his right, and the creamy sel-sund
Curving in delicate tracery between. A
picture and child of nature! Delightedly
he purges in the foaa, s. swims 70 thei bald
crown of rock that upIifts above the waves
Seating himself, he gazes upon the calm ex.
panse beyond, and swings his kgs against
| the moss that spins its filmy tendrils in the
brine. Suddenly he utters cry; springs up
} the blood streams from his foot, with barbar
Gus fury he tears up masses of sea-moss, and
5 with it clustering families of testacca.--
: Dashing then down upon the rock, he pre-
ceives liquor exuding from the fragments
= he sees the hite pulpy, delicate morscl half
: hidden in the cracked shell, and Instant!
U reaching upward, his hand finds his mouth
If and amidst savage, triumphant dcglutitou
!. he murmurs-OYsrER!! Champing in his IN
l. couth fashion bits Of shelt and sea weed, wit