Evening star., 1905-11-04

ing pace. and talk at the top of his voice.
ct the same killing pace against crowds,
can't afford to fool with rarebits or Holsters.
He needs something that will fill and not
kill.
Possibly Il purveys little typhoid too;
for the oyster must plead guilty to that in
dictment. 1t is it's worst crime next to
being the great American inspiration to ex-
tremely poor jokes.
Really there is no reason at all why the
oyster should ever carry the germs Of the
fever II people were willing to eat 1t as
1t comes out of the salt water (and when 1t
Is actually at It's best) there would not be
the slightest danger in all the oysters that
ever were shelled. But It doesn't look
pretty as 1t comes from the bottom. It's
taste Is luscious, spiced as it Is by its own
salty pickle OF juice: but 1t looks black
ish and thin and slimy. So fashion has
ordered that the oyster should be drink
ed" as the planters call the process. 1t
Is simply the process OF carrying the nice,
clean. healthy oyster away from its clean
salt water and dumping 1t in streams that
run brackish or fresh water down to the
sea.
AS soon as the oyster feels the fresh
water. It opens and begins to bloat. Then
people say that the shellfish Is fattening.
II certainly gets white and good looking;
but whatever contamination there is In the
stream goes Into the oyster and stays there.
AS all the great oyster grounds are near
great cities. with few exceptions, while
the greatest of all are partly within the
limits of the city of New York, 1t is evil
dent that there are very few brackish or
fresh streams 10 be found within reaching
distance that are not bearers OF sewage.
II the oyster were delivered directly to
market from It's salt water home there
would be no typhoid contamination. for
practically all the oyster beds are swept
by strong tidal currents, which keep them
clean: and. besides. they not usually
In the area of sewage infection. for bottoms
affected by sewage soon lose their value
as oyster grounds because the shelfish will
not thrive on them
Real Oysters.
Nobody knows what an oyster really
tastes like until he has eaten 1t straight
from the sea. full of its native brine which
is the best sauce that ever was made for
shelifsh.
However. people want their oysters white
and fat" and they get them. 1t isn't the
oystermans fault. He would rather be
saved the trouble OF carrying his crop to
fresh water and handling It twice over.
He has work enough as II is. "a dog
iife.'' says the oyster planter. just as every
other worker says about his own particular
kind of toll Yet a man who has spent
any time In oyytering rarely is happy in
any other business. II Is true that he must
face danger and frosts and singing water.
But his outlook is as free that of a sea-
bird His world knows neither dust nor
nerve-racking noises II he lacks comforts
of the land. he Is free, too, from It's petty
limitations and Its worries OF the minute
His only clock IL the mighty, unfettered
tide. His only master is the storm. His
only task Is the task set by the sea. So
far as human domination goes he Is as free
man as lives Though the whims of the
far-away city market may affect him, or
the temporary state OF his sea-crop worry
him, yet In his daily concerns he Is the
creature of free and unrestrained nature.
with which he Is SO well acquainted and so
well attuned that he does not fear It. even
In its fierce moods
His plantation and pastures are no tame
things. fenced and solid, hemmed against
both growth and trespass by muititudes of
written laws What little written laws COW
ers his rolling farm reaches only as far
as his own arm can reach. He knows that
behind him there Is nobody-neither sheriff
or judge, lawyer or court officer. The word
of the law may reach into the sea, but
not Its hand.
Nor do other forms OF our communal helm
and interference enter into his life. When
ne arises In the early dimness OF the MORN
ing and peers keenly around his horizon of
marsh to observe II all be well with the
Few others Of his kind. whose shanties he
can see perehed in the plain OF waters. he is
can DO for each other. and he knows that
in turn they are doing the same for him.
Beyond that. his day In In his own hand
He cannot lean, as do the dweilers In
cities, on q hundred others around him. He
cannot call at win on doctor or toolmaker
or baker or tailor or any other. whatever