Brookings County sentinel. (Brookings, Dakota [S.D.]) 1882-1890, 1882-05-25
Yarmouth Fisheries.


The fisheries have been the raison
d'etrc of Yarmouth from the beginning,
and Goals are not more evident staple
in Newcastle than the produce of the sea
is In this old Norfolk towp. The dark.
blue guernsey shirt is uniform among
large number Of the inhabitants, and
colors every gathering. The oil-skin
suit, spread out like scarecrow,
bangles in the windows and in the doors
OF many shops, in which jack-knives, tin
plates, high boots, very small mirrors
and the miscellaneous articles OF sea.
mems wardrobes are also displayed. The
scant vegetation of the dunes outside the
town is darkened by the nets spread out
to dry, and it impossible to go far with
out seeing black coil sluggishly issuing
from loft into cart, which receives il
on the street below, this also being g
net. Within the loft are many tarry.
fingered Penelopes mending old nets and
meshing new ones, and men in canvas at.
tire who were soaking their nets in oil
and pitch to make them stronger. The
nets are hung over fences, hauled up on
poles and drawn out In neat squares
wherever there is an unincumbered and
convenient place. The odor Of them il
pungent in the air. The fish-carts, of O
light two-wheeled pattern, rattle along
the street with impressive speed and
urgency; and one Of the features OF the
features Of the beach and the harboi
mouth is the number OF lookout boxes
perched on the roofs Of houses and on
props of their own, in which blue-jackei
and oracular men with copper-bronzed
faces are constantly aiming telescopes al
shadowy specks against the horizon.
Yarmouth is piscatory beyond COM
parison and beyond description. The
conversation on the quays has fish for its
burden. A shy-looking man with 9
brown face, far-looking eyes, and g
guernsey is accosted by another person
with an amphibious exterior. "Hello,
my boy hello, old shipmet how many
fish ?" cries the latter, and the person
addressed shrugs his shoulders and looks
at the sky as he gives the inquirer the
particulars of his last catch. Then We
met Q young fisherman coming home,
with soft, yellow beard, grown during
his absence, and his canvas bag thrown
over his shoulder-ap open-faced young
Saxon, marching happily between two
friends who are welcoming him; and
there are few places in the world where
there are more such fair, winsome Saxon
faces as his than in Yarmouth--honesi
brown faces, with haxen boards and
glistening blue and gray eyes-or where
the speech is more courteous or less ser.
vile, and the manners 30 independently
bluff without touch of incivility. Or
the borders Of the town the red brich
curing-houses, which look like arsenal
stores, are conspicuous; and though the
old boat in which the Pegguttys lived
has disappeared from the spot on the
south dunes where it stood up to q yeal
ago, the obsolete vessels Of the fishine
feet are utilized in many ways for which
they were never intended, and sections
of their bulwarks may be seen filing uE
the gaps in the fences on the western
meadows. Some of these veterans an
laid up in ordinary on the Suffolk side q
the Yare, dismssted and altogether un
equipped, but more beautiful than evel
they were when prepared for sea, and
their successive co ITS ofpaint have melt
ed into one another. and the SEQ and tht
sun have refined them into the softes
tints. Even the parish church Is dedi
Gated to Nicholas, patron saint Of 6sher
men, and the municipal arms are thre,
demi- lions impaling three herrings' tails
Anciently there were three herring
argent ON field azure, but Edward tn
Third, in acknowledgment Of the ser
vices done for. him by the town in hi
wars with France, "demidiated then
with his own, aud the herrings are nov
anomalous beasts, half appetixing bloate
and half royal hon.