The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-12-17
WRITER TELLS OF FRENCH PEOPLE IN
CHINCOTRAGUE.

AA@A~4
A correspondent of the Hagers-
town Nal, writing from Chinco-
league, Va, under date of October
26, 1904, has the following to say of
that section, the habits of its people,
etc., etc.
'As 1 am interested in the welfare
of your paper, which visits my home
daily, l thought letter from this
section Tay prove interesting to some
of your readers. / have been away
from your city for nine years, but
still have lively interest in its pros
perity and take note of the rapid
growth ofits industry and population,
which is greater than any other town
within the borders of the State.
II am living among people of
French descent. These people were
born and bred on the Atlantic coast
though their forefathers came from
FapG pG feneh Is pfaFhfy hiahiieg
here. Everybody that comes among
them must for a time undergo the
looks of suspicious eyes.
To show you how prominent this
element in the makeup of the people
/ will relate story as it came to me.
Several years ago gentleman came
to Cape Charles, town of about so
miles south of us. For several days
he walked about town, paid his bills
in advance and did not register at
the hotel. About the third day Of
his visit the people began to look
upon him with suspicion and finally
a meeting of the town council was
called to discuss the matter. As a
result committee was appointed to
wait upon the stranger.
1.-The committee did so, the spokes-
man approaching the gentleman and
saying Sir, we have observed you
about town for several days and
whilst you have behaved yourself
and have paid your bills, yet you
have failed to register at the hotel
and we would like to know your bus
mess here and, if you are here on
legitimate business, it is all right.
The stranger replied: Well, if you
must know my business / do not hes
itate to tell you. Seueral weeks ago
I stole a sawmill at the upper end of
the county and got away with it all
right, but fool like I went back to
steal the mill dam and they canght
me. was taken before the authori-
ties at Eastville, found guilty and
the Judge gave me the choice of two
penalties, going to Jail for six months
or spend ten days at Cape Charles.
Fool like choose the latter, but my
time will be up in aday or two when
by your permission l will quietly
leave on the first train.
"This brings out strong charac-
teristic of the people of the coast and
in my observations I have learned
that a trend of gossip is naturally
blended with it. The element crops
out more plainly and the female
.;-A,s,-. . We have ( l2tlOonnet,,
brigade which holds caucuSe6 ~ The
front gates and after their plans are
laid they go in the house and dress
and go out on parade in twos.
Barring these facts this isa pleas
ant country to live in. The natural
resources are great. have lived in
several states but have not found a
place where a living can be made as
easily as here On the mainland, if a
man has a plow, a horse and a cart
he is ready to do farming and with
that team he will clear more money
than your farmers with all their new
implements and four horse wagons.
have known these one-horse farm
ers to clear from thousand to fifteen
hundred dollars year. We have
farmers who plant from 800 to 500
barrels of potatoes and they have
cleared from SIS, 900 to So, 900 year.
Farming here does not mean what
it does in the limestone country.
The soil is a sandy loan and it is sell
dom that harrow is needed. There
are no stones or gravel to contend
with, the surface is level for hun
dred miles or more. Irish and sweet
potatoes are the principal crops, but
few of the former are consumed here,
the people eating sweets nearly the
entire year. If any man up your
way wants sweet wife let him come
down here for the girls must be
srccharine after eating so many sweet
potatoes.