The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1891-09-16
A TERRAPIN + ARM
Something from Vann About Sam
Dickson.
A Terrapin Farm Which Is a Hummer
All ROund.
HOW THE MATTERS ARE CONDUCTED
Something Also about the Furs Of the
Festive Tcrrapin They Were
Seen by GoIonc1 Tann.

Seen by Colonel Vann.
by special request Of Sir Sam Dixon,
TIE GLOBE sent us down to that gentle
mans "terrapin" ranch on a reporting
tour; the genial Sir Sam accompanied us
from Durham, and that which follows is
detailed and truthful statement of what
we heard and saw on that interesting
OCCASION The "ranch" in question is in
the extreme northeastern corner of Pas
quOtank county, contains 900 acres, and
in the centre Of which is q crescent
shaped, semi saline lake, about one mile
in. diameter at its widest, in which the
amphibious reptiles live and have their
being. This lake is surrounded by a
plank fence twenty feet high, on the top
Of which are four strands of barbed wire
this precautiOn, and the need Of it, will
appear further on. We arrived Just
before night, but in time to witness the
amphibians mode of lunching, the quail
ity Of their food, and other interesting
matter pertaining thereto. Sir Sam has
large quantities of slaughter house offal
shipped from Baltimore and other east
ern cities, on which his highly remun-
erative pets are daily given feast. We
saw them take their supper on the first
evening after our arrival-the banquet
being given after this style: The offal
was carted to and spread upon the grass
near the waters edge; the superintend-
bugle, and-mirabile dictu! then thous-
ands upon thousands of the watery deni-
zens began wild, confused scramble in
the direction of the bugler-the slosh- a.
wash noise made in swimming closely
initiating the dull, muffled roar of break
ers upon lee shore, just after a gale.
AS each swimmer reached the bank he
or she, as the case might be, clawed
his way up the gentle incline, and
without further ceremony pounced upon
the savOry viands. One huge old fellow
about a ton in weight-attracted our
attention by his peculiar antics. When
ever one of the smaller fry would get in
his way while he was munching juicy
surlon, he would stop eating, deliber-
ately lay down his knife and fork, seize
the offender by the tail, and the next
instant the unfortunate crustacean would
go whizzing back into its native element!
and adjusting his necktie, would resume
his repast just as if nothing had oc-
CURED to mar the serenity of the occa
sion. This athletic old gentleman bore
the name of "Dan Lamont'-his name,
sake, the cx private secretary, being in
the estimation Of Sir Sam, the beau
ideal Of all that is great or good il the
history of famous political charac-
ters. Now our aqueous friend, Dan
Lamont, is something Of a dude within
his own Clements bald headed, one
eyed; suspenders do not set we'll along
the region of the spinal column, and
most decidedly splay-footed- latter
defect you will notice in all Of its beauty
when he is walking away from you.
Dan" is the paterfamilias of the aque-
Gus household, and is just 1877 years old
Sir Sam distinctly remembers putting
him in the lake in the year 1904, sc there
can be no doubt as to his great long
evity. Madam Lamont, Dams better
half, tbs a pleasant looking old lady,
though somewhat antiQuated in her
STYLE especially in the manner of wear
ing her hair; a far-away smile, and the
deep lines of care on her motherly face,
suggests the idea that the old mater
familias has had a hard time bring
ing up such a numerous progeny
100000 of her offspring are now in the
lake, and are daily adding sunshine to
the declining years of their good ole
mammals life. AS a matter of fact, this
does not include that vast number which
has been slain for the deleCtation of the
epicure's palate in New York, Philadel
phia, and the other large cities of this
and other countries, nor those that dice
from whooping cough, measles and 0thel
natural causes; large numbers fell vic
TINS to causes directly traceable to youth
full depravity. 1t seems that the "trai
of the serpent" is not confined to the
genus homo-alas! there is more II
earth than ever was dreamt of in the
philosophy of the ancient seers; we may
yet stumble upon the "missing link IL
the Darwinian theory, then our apoth
costs will be an assured fact, and al
future generations down to the very
crack of doom, will see that roses ant
forget-me- nots perpetually spring above
our last resting -place-that exit to th'
unknown phantom world. We are ram
bling from the subject in hand Sir San
tells US that before he had the barbet
wire put upon the plank enclosure, tina
his watery property were in the habit o