Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1888-08-22
ON EaE sAssAtRAs.
Somethiug bout the People Fishing
for Grabs and Perch-An a Abundauos
OF BOth.

for Grabs and Perch-An a ADundauo,
Of Both.
Special correspondence OF REPUBLICAN.
eAssAFRAs RIVER, Aug. 20.-I though
when ! finished my letter yesterday
would not write agalu on account OF
the difficulty 10 mailing letter, as the
nearest postotfice is at Earl sville, about
six miles distant. The place where am
stopping is on the bank OF the eassa tras
river, but high enough to be out of all
danger from high water. Ny attempts to
sleep last night were far from being a
suet ess, las the mosquitoes seemed to think
they had a sure thing on me. had
barely extlnguished the light and got in
bed when the battle commenced, but
| while was slapping at them on o .e side
they were feasting on the other.
And such mosQultoesi they are much
larger and more voracious than any
ever saw In Wilmington, and If any one
has doubt about them understanding
their business, they should come down
here and spend a few nights. Toward
morning they le' up little, and fell
into little dOz4, buf was awakened by a
singular noise, and my first thought was
that all the mosquitoes In the room had
had meal of me, and their companions
on the outside had an augur and were
boring hole through the logs, SO that
tn y could also CONS in and share the
feast. Tho noise continued for some
time, and finally came to the conclusion
that it was caused by a rat instead of tie
| IN pquitots.
The people with whom am stopping
are originals in every respect but ex-
tremely kind and hospitable and anxious
TO do every hing in their power to render
my Visit pleasant In every respect. The
family consists of the man and hie
wife, his brother and eight children, all
but two of whom are at home. The two
Oldest have places on farms, and contr!-
butte towards the support of the family.
The man has ten acres of ground, nearly
all of which Is planted in corn, and
during his spare time he earns dollar
whenever he can by cutting wood, or
cleaning and breaking up new ground.
The wife and mother is large, muscular
woman, probably 80 or 35 years of age,
and although sac has so many children,
manages to keep them and herself neatly
dressed and tidy. She told me that she
can neither read or write, but that she
was happy aud contented, and would
not change places with any one living in
a city. In fact she seemed to have a per
feet dread of city life, and said that she
was IN Baltimore once on visit for day
or two, and that gave her enough of city
life to last her as long as she lived.
~ seems strange to me how any one can
content themsslVe to live as these people
do; here they are in manner isolated
from the rest Of the world, seldom see
ing newtp paper, and knowing but tile
OF what is going Oh outside of their own
neighborhood, but they are satisfied and
happy. Th y 60 to church occasionally,
and are so anxious that their children
shall have little "Dook learning" that
they send them during the time it is open
to the nearest school, which is fo r miles
distant They have rot clock or
watch in the hoase, aud compute the
time by the sun. W hen 1t becomes dark
they are ready to 60 to bed and are upl
at daylight The only book l saw dur
ing my stay was small bible which
also seemed to serve as receptacle fer a
number of badly executed tintypes Il
suppose, however, that It is possible to
become accustomed to anythi e. aud as
these people have become accustomed to
this way OF living, no other would suit
them.
To-day was set apart for fishing, and
by O'Clock in the morning break fast
was over, and we prepared for the sport.
The first thing In order was to prepare
"trot' line, for catching crabs This
consists OF several plain lines tied to.
gether, on which are fastened pieces ofI
string, ebout or 10 inches lorg with
about q feet space between them. An old
hen that had out iyed her usefulness was
decapitatet, and after her feathers were
taken of the carcass was cut in ieces
about two inches in size. A land tor
toise shared the same fate, and then one
OF these pieces was securely fastened to
each piece of string The line was taken
to the boat, and with mine host at the
oars, We were so1n at the Grabbing
grounds. A pole about IL or IA feet long
had been provided, and this was pushed
down securely into the soft bottom, after
which one end OF the "trot" line was
fastened to it
The remainder was then played out of
the boat aud tho end huoyed up with
large corks. As soon as this was done
we roWed away from TIE stake and COM
meneed iishing for perch, using crabs as
bait. ln about half an hour we re
turned to the ''trOt" line for the pur-
pose of oyerhauling it. This s
done by commencing at the cork
end, and drawing It M gently, afer
which It is again let fall in the water
When crab is seen to have hold Of n
bait scoop net Is clipped under him, aud
he is landed In the boat 1t however
takes an experienced hand to success fully
capture these vicious ras ais, as they
keep u2 sha p look out ,and frequently
let go aud cart oil just as the net is about
to envelope them, consequently It .s not
as easy matter TO catch them as might
be supposed.
We however succeeded in catching
quite number, as vel as plenty ofI
perch and other fish. AT IL O'Clock oper-
ations were suspended for the time being,
aud with ronsing appetites. we pulled for
the shore and raided the dinner table.
After dinner We again took to the boat
and spent the afternoon In fishing. We
were we'll rewarded for our pains, and
when we returI ed to the shore we had
two large baskets OF crabs, and one filled
tn fine fat perch. This ended our
sport, and to morrow shall return home
and again resume my duties as news
gatherer. OBSERVER.
For Brandywine Springs.