The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1882-08-25
miscellaneous.
Fer Tie .EgtS and MtelEgencer.
Ocean City and Vicinity.

Bordering on the Atlantic Ocean, between
the southern boundary of Delaware and the
northern line of the Eastern shore of Virgin
ia, is Worcester county, Maryland, the only
county of this State that touches the sea-
Probably as n result of the last stated fact,
Ocean City was established seal side resort,
principally for the accommodation of the
people OF Maryland The so.caled CITY is
located on the Isle of Wight and the hotels
were constructed about seven years ago,
since which time it has continued to increase
in popularity and means of entertainment
On one side of the island is the Synepuxent
bay; on the other side the ocean-thus Civ.
ing to Ocean City the peculiar advantage of
q surf and calm bay almost in contiguity.
The Atlantic Hotel, kept by Mr. Tracy, Con
gress Hall, by Rennert & Co., and Massey's
Seaside Hotel are all large and commodious.
The steamer Kent leaves Baltimore on Tues
days, Thursdays and Saturdays, at 5 P. NJ,
comico river, landing there at o'clock the
following morning. The boat is met at the
wharf by what are termed in Salisbury
phraseology hacks, but what we would call
very dilapidated stages, and the passengers
are in this way transported to the depot, a
distance of a mile through the town. From
Salisbury the train goes directly to Ocean
City. The railroad passes through Wicomi-
co and Worcester counties for distance of
thirty miles, but it is fair to say that the type
of country through which the road passes is
scarcely characteristic of the two countless
Worcester county is level and sandy. The
soil, however, is well adapted TO the cultiva-
ton Of corn but is deficient in that clayey
property that makes our county so famed for
wheat. The water is near the surface of the
ground, the wells averaging twelve or fifteen
feet in depth, thus dispensing with the neces-
sity for pumps. Buckets attached to beam
on post are substituted, raising the water
with great facility.
Berlin is the principal town of Worcester
and contains about one thousand people. 1t
is at the junction of the Wicomico and POGO.
with the Old Dominion line from Lewes, Del,
to Franklin City, Va. Apcculiar custom pre-
walls in that section. They call all the new
towns cities, and seem to imagine the more
dignified name compensatcs the deficiency in
extent and population. A stranger is rather
surprised on his arrival at Ocean City to find
that three hotels some cottages, q life-saving
station and livery stables comprise the city,
which the habit of putting literal meaning
on words of that character had led him to eX-
pect.
The counties of the lower Eastern Shore
have retained that peculiar characteristic of
Virginia of the olden days. Indeed, the peo-
pie more closely resemble Virginians than
Marylanders of the Western shore. Hospi-
tality is their pride, and they dispense it in
such way as to make n stranger feel perfect
ly at home. There is a marked absence of
the small farm and the "well to do farmer,
but the tracts of land are large, and small
tenant houses for laborcrs are abundant, re
minding one of Europe under the ieudal sys-
TEN, when the vassal held the fee only from
Lord and rendered tribute of money or as.
sistance in chivalry. The people seem iso-
lated from the rest of Maryland and many
that one meets have never beer to Baltimore /;
Philadelphia being so much more convenient.
Farming is carried on without the improved
implements that are universally used in Har-
ford. The writer was in Worcester and Wi.
comico counti's during wheat harvest, and
only saw one reaper, and that was cutting a
lot of about half dozen acres A man near
the railroad was cutting oats with short
cradle, taking the straw from the cradle with
his hand at every cut, seeming to be only one
remove from the ancient sickle Corn, how
ever appeared to be healthy and well ad-
vanced.
Chincotcague Island, at the mouth of the
| Synepuxent bay and directly opposite Frank
| lin City, abounds in that species of pony that
bears its name. They are extraordinary in
size, build and disposition. The strangest
thing about them is the glass eye, as It is
called there differing from that of any other
animal They are perfectly gentle, naturally
gated, possessed of great endurance, and
consequently bring good price in the spring,
when they are peHned. The owners generally
turn them upon the beach in winter, miles
from any dwelling, and so they live without
shelter or grain and are penned in the spring
as fat and sleek as if they had been in the
stable on the best of food The soft ground
in Worcester obviates the necessity of shoe
ing, and blacksmiths who make shoeing a
speciality can scarcely make their salt, except
in the coolest winters when the ground re-
mains frozen. Holdback straps are unneces
sary to harness, as the roads are level and
sandy A prominent practitioner of Berlin
never uses them, though his practice extends
over wide extent of territory. Peculiar ex-
prcssions occur frequently in the talk of the
inhabitants, amounting almost to dialect,
producing smile on the lips of the nearer
which in return causes establishment in the
speaker, who is wholly unaware of the quaint.
ness of his expression.
Immediately along the coast is found re
markable class, differing from their neighbors
in custom, refinement and language" for
chilly reminding us of Longfellow's words in
Evangeline, descriptive of the deserted vii.
lage of Grand Pre-:
"only along the shore of the mournful and misty
Linger a few Acadian peasants, whose fathers
from exile
Wandered back to their native land, to die in its