The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1888-03-10

Our senior on on u Hunt FOR Hen'th---He
writes US IA Letter.
Ml.sIssIrrI clrl Nareh 5. IS.

4 stiff nOr'Wester is blowing, tht'
morning, and although the sun h
shining bright, the weather is coo!
cool enough TO make a IRE fee.
comfortable. In sight of me AS
write, and distant only a few bun
lred feet are the angry looking wa
tiers of the sea, dashed into fury by
! the rushing wind. The waters along
this coast however, are shallow, very
| shallow, consequently there is M
real danger, and their angry attitude
: all "bIuf." Directly in front o
nae and "a quarter OF a mile distant
from the shore an FISHERMAN Is hard
Il work, longing up oysters. His
boat is a wooden box, about eighteen
feet long, eight feet wide and three
feet high. The top ia foored over
and perfectly fiat aud plain. This
raft he navigutes with u push-poie
and bis progress particularly when
loaded is necessarily slow. His
longs are his only other imple-
uents. These tongs ars simply a
kind of dnuble-barreled long handle
rake, or rather two rakes joined to-
gether like shears. The oysternlan
stands erect on the edge of his clum-
~ craft, and lets his tongs down in
The water, opens them with one mo
ton, with another closes, lifts his
catch up and dumps it dowa by his
side. This he repeats again and
again until he has scared his load.
He then pushes slowly back to the
| opening house Oh the pier and an
loads. About fifteen or twenty bar
rels constitute an ordinary load.
Most Of the oysters taken in this mar
ner are opened almost immediately
| upon landing, and shipped upon lit
lie scho0ners and sloops, directly to
New Orleans, and are the ''fresh ovs-
| ters' Of commerce, which retail in
places like Grenada al one dollar pr,
hundred raw, and four dollars pr.
hundred cooked. Here they are
| worth one dollar and a quarter pr.
barrel, after they have been opened.
Iheir value in the shell is nominal.
These oysters are first gathered from
he parent stem, out about twelve
niles from the shore, on an oyster
reef, and transplanted near the saore.
The summer months is the time for
transplanting, the months without
an t'r.n when the oyster is not M ar
ticle of commerce. He never ceases
20 be an article Of diet, however in
his community; for though the
weather may be too warm to admit
Of bis being shipped in good condi.
ton, it is never too warm to prevent
his being swallowed by the omnivo.
Gus homo. The oysteg-houses, where
the bivales are unioaded and opened
are built on piling about oae hundred
yards from the shore. Under them
md around them is one huge pile Of
oyster shells, the accumulation of
years. | have been down and seen
the luscious bivaive, Oh his native
heath ana seen them unloaded from
the fats, and the openers hard AT
work, Each man sits astride a
short nede bench, about two feet in
length, and about eighteen inches in
height at one end and fourteen at the
other. The opener sits facing the
lower end, close up to the oyster pile.
4 water bucket, into which the oys-
ter is emptied as he ome from the
shell, and a small-biaded dagger
shaped knife, constitute his entire
outfit. The oysters usually grow in
clusters and very few OF them seeiG
10 he playing a lone hand.
They are joined together APPARENTLY
1t their backs, if an oyster may be
said to have any back. with their
hin edge outward. The opener
picks up an oyster, or a cluster of
hem, hacks at the thin edge of the
shell until he has made an abrasion,
inserts the point Of the knife, gives ii
u shove and "a twist, and the "delic-
ious bivalve" is exposed, on the half
shell. The black Shiny mud oozes,
with charming abandon, between the
dirty fingers Of the operator, while
ever and anon he gracefully expect
crates into the palm Of his dexter
hand, to make secure his grip upon
The handle Of his knife. The knife
is then slipped under The oyster and
with a very simple twist of the wrist
the ties that have hitherto bound
him to 'home and mother" are cruel
Iv severed for ell time hence. Hith-
erto have ever been inordinately
fond of oysters. 4 could dispatch
themin any shape | had seen them
appear upon the table, with CELEBRITY
and iiuency, and if neither Of these
adiuncts were ~agreeably adjacent,
! could usually make out with Wor-
cester sauce, had Away recogniz4