The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-06-29

BALTIMORE FEMALE CoLLEGE.-The
twenty seventh annual commencement of
this institution took place on Thursday
last. The exercises consisted of music,
essays, and addresses by the gradntes; and
the comforting of the degrees and the award
ing of medals and crowns by the President,
DR.. Brooks. There were eight graduates,
two of whom received the degree of Arthur
Baccalaurea; the other six the degree of
Mistress Of English Literature. Among
| the latter was Miss Matte A. +. Phillips,
of Rising Sun. Her Thesis, The Present
and the Future" was distinguished for
good sense and it's high moral tone. Three
honors, consisting of large silver medals
and handsome wreaths, were conferred;
the first on Miss Griffiss, of Baltimore, for
excellence in Greek and Latin; the second
on Miss Phillips for mathematics: the third
on ISIS Jennie Bowen, of Calvert, for de-
pertinent. Eight smaller medals were con-
ferred for excellence i'll different branches.
Another of the young ladies from Cecil won
distinction by bearing off one of these
Miss Carrie Griffith. of St. Augustine. All
the medals were struck at the l. S. Mint
from beautiful steel dies made for the col
lege. The free scholarship for Cecil we
learn, is vacant.
AN ANCIENT NEwsPAPER.-Samuel
Peace, Esq, of Port Deposit, sent US this
week copy of the Cecil Wig and Port
Deposit Weekly Courier, bearing date Feb
ruary goth, 1886, and being No. % of vol
ume 1. 1t was a weekly paper, published
every Saturday, at Port Deposit, by Lynde
Elliot, in the interest of the Wing party.
At the time of the publication of this paper
the Indians were making things lively
down in Florida; and John Randall, who
had just obtained confirmation OF the
Judgment of the Superior Court of Della
ware in the U. S. Supreme Court against
the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, gives
notice that he will collect the tolls of the
canal until his claim is satisfied. The
tide water canal was not then located, and
the editor predicted that its southern ter
minus would be at Port Deposit. The
cards of James II. lamar and Amor T.
| Forwood, who were practicing law in Elk
ton at that time, appear in the paper. The
editor states that he had refrained from
noticing the condition of the Baltimore
market for some time past, because he could
not hear from it later than the Tuesday
before the publication of the Wig. Alto
gether this relic of nearly half a century
ago takes us back to the time when many
of the readers of this issue of The Cecil
Wing were children, and others of them
who are now ray-headed were in the prime
of life.
A NEW ENTERrRIsE.-There was time
in the history of Elkton and vicinity when
all the water powers on the branches OF the
noble Elk were used in the manufacture of
| flour and large quantities of it were shipped
to Philadelphia. At later day the lum-
Der business of the town was extensive and
quite important; but since the construction
of railroads, this trade has been diverted
from the channels through which it then
reached the Atlantic seaboard; and bust
ness, except that of the gentlemen of the
| bar, has been very dull. We are happy to
be able to announce that there is some pros
pect Of new branch of industry being put
into operation, which may revive the activ-
ity of former days and afford employment
to the industrious laborers of the town and
enrich the gentleman who has already start
ed it in a small way.
Some what more than a year ago, this
gentleman caught large female swapping
turtle, and put it in sluce on his place,
which is near the mouth of Mill Greek,
hoping that if all things went we'll he
might succeed in filling the water of the
-sluice with young snappers. He watched
and waited patiently, but no little suappers
came to gladden. his heart, and lay the
foundation of the colossal business he
sought to inaugurate. This Spring he
caught large male snapper and planted it
in the suice and recently had the pleasure
of finding the nest of the female, which
contained something less than half bushel
of eggs, which the hot sun will no doubt
soon hatch, and which, if properly cared
for, may be the means of stocking the
marshes along the noble river, which is the
pride of evsry citizen in the county. The
habits and instincts of the snapper are, SO
far as regards the making of their nests,
somewhat similar to the staid old laud
tortoise. They both eXcavate the hole in
in which they lay their eggs, by projecting
their hind feet a short distance beyond
their shell and placing them close together
and pressing them forcibly on the ground,
at the same time giving rotary motion by
describing circle with their fore feet
| thus improvising novel boring machine.
| The tortoise is content with covering the
orifce Of her nest with the dirt that came
out of it, but not so the snapper. She
rakes a considerable quantity of mud over
her nest and proceeds to fix it securely
in its position by raising herself upon all
tours and dropping herself forcibly down
upon it, her instinct teaehipg her to make
not only a boring machine but "a miniature
pile driver Of her body. The marshes
along the Elk are we'll adapted TO the pro-
duction of the swapping turtle, and we
await with much anxiety the result of this
effort to utilize them and promise to keep
our readers informed upon the subject.
The gentleman who has started this
novel enterprise was in early life engaged
in the hating business, but being of a versa
tile turn he afterwards became captain
of a bay craft, and probably when cruising
along the Elk and in the bay had an OPP
portunity of studying the natural history
of the snapper We hope he may succeed.