Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1885-11-06
AMONG THE CLAY-EATERS
A queer People Who Live in
Maryland and Delaware.
An Isolated Existence in a Swamp, VIII ere
the Houses are Built on Piles

A curious region of the Eastern
shore is the great swamp that extends
through Sussex county. Delaware, and
portions of Wicomico and Worcester
counties, Maryland. This swamp pro-
duces fine cypress, and is also the
home of the most venomous snakes,
such as rattles, moccason and copper
heads. 1t grow the best huckleberries
in the world. and. it is said, contains
some wild cats and bears.
A gentleman who was reared in the
lower part of the Eastern shore gave a
Times reporter an interesting account
of the inhabitants of the swamp region.
"The swampers," he said "are as hardy
as offers and almost as ignorant as
Hottentots. As a general thing they
can neither read nor write. They live
in small log huts chinked with clay,
and subsist upon game, little corn
meal, coarse meat and whisky. The
last, next to apple brandy, they regard
as the best thing in the world They
know nothing about politics and few
ever come out of their lairs to vote.
Many of their houses are built on
piles, and they reach them in boats
through the lagoons. Men live to a
ripe old age in that swamp, and die
there without ever being beyond its
boundaries. These people are never
reached by the Tax Collector, the As
SCISSOR. the preacher, the book agent,
the busy politician, nor the Lighting
rod agent They have nothing in COM
mon with the outside world. Their
whole being, OF course, is saturated with
malaria. But though they shake with
ague half the year through, and have
their skins the color of saffron, they
seem to be insured against other dis
ease for it is rare to hear Of any other
form of sickness in the swamp than
ague.
"When the men do any work at all
they generally make shingles In the
summer the women and children gath
er huckleberries. The shingles and
berries are sold at the nearest country
stores, the sums realized being con-
verted into cheap wearing apparel,
corn meal, bacon, tobacco and whisky.
Nearly all the women use tobacco in
every conceivable shape, and drink
corn juice with the best of men.
These swampers fight among them
selves, but do not think about going to
law. They settle all their disputes in
the primitive fashion-by the might
of superior strength and physical adj
dress. Many of them are clay-eaters,
too. I never could understand the APP
petite which Graves clay as diet.
The clay-eating swampers are misera-
bic specimens ofhumanity. With legs
that are mere sticks, narrow hips, fall
ing chest, and bluish-yellow complex
ions, they present about the lowest
type of the white race found in the
United states. l remember that
swamper, who himself did not eat
clay, had boy that began to droop.
He took him to the nearest country
physician, but the doctor could not re-
lieYe him. After while the swamp
er took his boy to Salisbury, and con-
suited DR.. S. P. Dennis. DR.. Dennis
thought he saw the little shaver's
trouble at once.
"'Boy,' said he, you have been eat
ing clay
"''Deed and deed, 1 hain't, sir.
"Pointing to a skeleton in the room,
the doctor said;
Boy, do you see that.
"'Yes, SIR shivering with fear.
lowell, now. I'll give you to that
for supper if you are telling me a
story. Put out your tongue and I'll
soon know if you have been eating
clay.
"The little wretch put out his
tongue. The doctor Immediately ex-
claimed:
There, didn't l say that you had
been eating clay?'
al didn't eat much, sir, whimpered
the boy.
"Having arrived at the cause of
trouble the doctor prescribed for the
patient and told his father to keep
him from eating clay and he would
get vel" Baltimore Times.