Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1872-02-28
Mistellaneous.
THE CHESAPEAKE PENINSULA.

Inc reverence in which this old region
IS held by those who have wandered from
it is exempliied by a late remark of Will
liam ii. Hooper, delegate in Congress
from Utah, and a Mormon, though not
polygamist. He was describing the vir-
tues OF Eastern Shore cooking, when one
said:
Captain Hooper, when were you last
on the old PENINSULA"
Never, Madame, since left it thirty
i've years ago.
why, sir, from your frequent mention
Of the place, | should think YOU would
want to slip over there at least once every
session o. Congress"
Never, Madame | never wish to see
it again; for might be disappointed.
always want to remember it as it appear.
ed to me in the last days of nv youth: the
most beautiful spot under the eyes of Prov.
idencen
Similar testimony was that of John
Custis, father-in-law by her first marriage
OF Mrs. George Washington. The Custis
family had descended, in America, from
John Custis, Hollander in name and
origin, who received the appointment OF
Collector of Customs on the Eastern
Shore OF Virginia in 1857, and whose
great estate of Arlington there, and rela-
tive fortune in money, attestcd either the
richness of the Eastern Shore at the time,
or the antiquity of the Collector of the
Customs as we know him, ROYAL officer
to this day. The estate of Arlington, near
Washington city, perpetuates the name of
the elder manor of the Custis family near
Cape Charles, and it is authentic history
that the son of the Collector married the
daughter OF Daniel Parke, who carried the
dispatches Of Marlborough to Queen
Anne, announcing the victory of Blen-
helm. This second Gusts, living unhap-
PLY with his wife, left this tribute to the
Eastern Shore on his tombstone -
Under this marble tomb lies the body
OF the Hon. John Gusts, Esq. of the city
OF Williamsburg and parish OF Burton,
formerly of Aungars parish on the Eastern
Shore OF Virginia and County of North
ampton aged seventy-one years, and vet
lived but seven years, which was the
space of time he kept bachelors home
at Arlington, on the Eastern Shore of
Virginia"
These attestations, however, revive the
widely known anecdote invented by Hon.
Tom Corwin. who used to tell it on the
"stnmp." A very old man, with long
jaws and high cheek k-boncs. came orce
upon time to the witness-box of an Ohio
court.
What is your ?" asked Corwin.
''Twenty-two."
You probably mistake the cue stion.
The years of your life,-I wish 10 know
the number of them"
"Twenty-two
''ilave you spent all your life in Ohio ?n
"Oh no. did live torty-years on the
Eastern Sho' of Maryland, but hope the
Lord amt counted them agin me !"
The queer phrases and pronunciation OF
this region are of habit, and no longer of
Ignorance.
81 do'no but is a mild form of affirma-
tion. "A DANCED sight good deal" is an
ambiguous estimate of quantity. won't
mung ye come TO see me ~ is somewhat
queruiious renewal of an invitation.
"What for sort of a man" is hardly in
digenous, but sounds suspiciously like an
imitation of ''Fildelfyr or "Baltmer' bysi-
ness talk. Who can define an ..ill COM
meoned day except upon the theory of
natural volublity unrelieved by diction-
airy ?".An else is a transposition of unless
Right smart" is of universal currency;
1t applies to a man of sagacity, to quanti-
ty, and to distance: occasionally the word
'peart' takes the place of smart, to signify
animation. "Cleverness' in Delaware
means hospitality and good-fellowship
solely, never skill, and it is the next di-
ploma below the impossible grade of
gentleman"
Cousnship is a feature of. good family
life on the Peninsula. the remark being
common of $50 and SO is my fourth cous-
in.' Extraordinary cases of human lon
gevity occur here, Notwithstanding the
prevalency at times of low fevers; but
the Eastern Shore is more healthy than
the opposite and higher coast. Crime is
rare; society was tranquil during the war;
Northern immigration is welcomed. and
observes no prejudice.
1t is to be remarked that from peninsu-
lated regions of the Chesapeake, closely
resembling the Eastern Shore, many OF
our strongest public men have come: as,
for example, Washington, the Lee family,
Pinckney and Writ, fancy and Reverdy
johnson; in short. the whole line of Vir-
ginia statesmen. William and Mary, and