The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-11-04
ALONG THE EASTERN SHORE
QUAINT SCENES WET UITH IN a
TRIP ON the CHESIPE1KE.
water the Only Means OF Communicates or
Mach OF The Region Queen Anne Cot
tHGer Hcpinciug the rInntcrs' Mansions.

yet; hut faint like Y used to i've. when you could
walk down to vcr hit OF n blind before breakfast
and knock over a dozen or so IN an hour"
The speaker. clnd in store clothes for a visit TO
Baltimore, sat on the forward deck OF a Chesa-
pcake Bay steamer. the autumn sunlight falling
warm upon his figure, the vessels nose pointing
nor nOr'Nyest, her sides rolling gently through
an arc Of 90 degrees, the blue waters laughing
ON every side, and long, kissing swclls In her
wake. No other body Of water IN the United
Statc-, not even Long Island Sound or the great
lakes, has exactly tho same same sort of
local commerce that distinguishes Chess-
pcake BAY. There Is n broad navigs-
BILE stream opening into the bay at every few
miles on either shore. many OF them nameless
on ordinary maps, but all Of them bristlinR with
public wharvCs. and each visited once, twice,
or thrice u week by a steamboat trading to Bal
timorc. To make the voyage on one of these
creek traders going well down toward the point
Of the peninsula is to sec an Accordingly pic
turesQue and interesting panorama Of life in the
lower bay and to encounter the Eastern Shore
man in unstudied simplicity on his native soil.
The so-called creeks OF the Chesapeake would
he spoken Of ms rivers elsewhere. though many
of them, especially on the eastern shore, are
really cstuaries, sometimes a mile wide at the
entrance, and rapidly narrowing to swift streams
Of fresh water that intersect inland roads In
every direction and when especially high tides
WIN wv WIN oAtdN VI w Atllhs ~ "
this sort sometimes has q public wharf every
mile Of it's nnviRable length. The wharves lie
first ON one bank and then on the other. and II 10
the business of the steamboat to make each
wharf in turn, linking from one tn another, and
sometimes waiting patiently for water enough
to navigate. Each wharf has n freight
shed. great or small, and on the land
ward side q country store containing every
article that a reasonable Eastern Shoreman
can desire. Tho atOrpkppper ia alao tha
wharf owner, ~ he Is oftentimes the local
banker. Postmaster, fre insurance agent, and
what not else. The arrival " the steamboat 10
the event OF tho day. Half the neighborhood
awaits her on the wharf. Light carts drawn by
a Chincoteague pony, a mule, or a bullock and
laden at this season with barrelled sweet pota-
toes await the coming Of the boat. Here and
there n belated teamster Is seen driving his
mule through the rising tide toward the wharf,
while every sort Of craft known to the region 10
either tied up at the wharf or making
all sail toward II from the neighboring coves.
As soon as the vessel is tied up and the gang
plank Is thrown out a dozen deck hands,
muscular strapping negroes OF demoniac energy,
seize their small iron trucks and wheel off ut a
run whatever can be wheeled. Is soon as tho
cargo Is of the negroes turn to with unrelenting
energy and load potatoes. Each truck follows
close upon the heels OF the truckman in front.
and there is n merry Jingle of iron accompanied
by a negro chorus. 1t Is the business of every
truckman to know his own truck and to keep
out Of every other mans way without
warning. The deckhand who cannot run
his truck within a quarter OF an inch
OF another deckhand does not earn his $40
a month and is not likely to remain long in the
business. The deckhand who cannot carry out
four empty barrels at a trip is equally unsuited
to his trade. The Eastern Shore potato barrel 10
made at Baltimore Of stout hardwoo slaves,
and has no head and no provision for putting In
a head. because potatoes nre put into the barrel
until they bulge out at the top. and are then
covered with burlaps, secured under a hoop.
You can learn more about sweet potatoes in q
ten-minute talk at an Eastern Shore wharf
than in a whole volume of reading matter.
From September TO May oysters and sweet
potatoes are the talk OF the Eastern Shore.
The latter sell at fifty cents per barrel
in the early autumn. and the prudent Eastern
Shoremar always banks" fifteen or twenty
bushels in leaves and sand TO be sent to Balti-
more in mid when prices are mp. You
hear at the wharf every sort of maxim az to the
treatment of the sweet potato. Never let the
frost touch your vines while the potatoes are in
the ground, is one motto; another is, don't let
stored potatoes get within twenty-five degrees
of the freezing point.
the bay leaves the wharf a long, marrow.
strongly strongly p built p ta 1Sew' in ms ,oWt f X two E t or ts sGss
driven by two long and enormously heavy
oars, and is steered when IN tow with one such
beneath the strain. The pound Fishermen area
Few bodies of water TEEN with fsh
peake fishing shore sometimes rents at 81 500
Z year, The pound fisherman pays no rent, for
sort Of trap that shall fish for him
while he sleeps. The pound Is fshed," or
lie alohnsside while the Sfsh are drawn out.
sort Of creature that, swims the Chesa-
when the pound fisherman comes 10 .
wharf with his catch is a comprehensive lesson
especially at early morning, the passengers sec
puts out from the shelter OF a cape fronting
some small dwelling ashore, The canoe is to the
Ii is his craft for all weatGers and all
and every sort of business. He goes
church in his canoe. Before there were steam
boats his ancestors went To Baltimore either in
the bugeye.. Tiny pickaninnies manage the
canoe with The ease OF old sailors. and one COM
with a little black boy for steersman.w who does
the work OF an adult as he begs his father TO buy
TO the prolific waters u the Chesa-
peake Is astonished TO see the waiting boy idly
up a dozen oysters at a time within six feet Of
lie wharf.
Far down the bay features ashore and ahoat
become more strongly characteristic of tho
Tiny, ancient, round-topped windmills
survive here and there, their shingles a century
bid, and their sails long since rOttd away. The
poor white Is seen at the whAIyes, .
sallOw, shiftless creature. indescribably shabby
with incohersnt attire, broad Of speech, noisy,
irresponsible, cracking stupid Jokes in a strange
iialect with the negroes, and laughing emptily
with FOOLISH gestures al his own wit. lie is master
II IA lean horse and q cart that carries three BAR
Of potatoes. His CABIN at home il furnished
with a yellow, prematuTely aged wife, and .
lOst OF tOw-haired children.
The fiat shores smile with green pastures.
md everywhere there are signs Of "a new awak-
ming, neat fences and fine new Queen Anne
'uttagcs in all the horrors ~ unrestricted paint.
Here and there a disnitted old mansion Of an
,arlier period shows against the sky, great
'himneys that speak OF ample hTtpiaCes and the
good cheer Of n generation gone by. some pas
reHgrr always knOw5 the landmarks, and
an point out this or that old plantation house
md tell rs story, usually one Of falling fortunes
md hmmhlc nrilr. for The old elAAe MnlnlnE