The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1908-03-05
SHORE.
of Maryland And
esS a New York
arnler.

the aDOundIug sea iCOd III
bays and rivers. The oyster
ldustry alone, with its feet of
boats in every cove, is yielding
wealth equal to that of many of
the mines of the K1ondike. This
was the home of the diamond-back
terrapin. So plenty were they
that there is still a law on the
statute books prohibiting man
feeding terrapin to a slave whom
he had hired more than twice a
week. Alas there is little danger
Of this now, for they are rare in
deed. Too often what is served
in the popular restaurants as such
IS muskrat, dignifed here by the
name of marsh rabbit and quite
popular dish. On one Of my
former visits one whole-souled
boniface used to have some of the
genuine stall fed" ready for the
farmers institute.
There are nine counties OH the
shore, with Cecil on the north,
along the Susquehanna, and Wor-
cester on the south, along the bay,
IN Maryland, with two Virginia
counties further south. These
two counties, while as low as those
Just north of them in Maryland,
are of light soil. The abundant
water makes this land exceeding
ly productive. The population is
twice as dense and the people are
very prosperous. I was told that
their annual crop of potatoes, in
Guiding both sweet and white, was
about five million bushels. Della
ware, with its three counties near
by, is a part of this shore, and for
nerly belong to Maryland.
The Pennsylvania Railroad sys-
tenn runs direct line through the
central part Of Delaware to Cape
Charles, with various branches
running to the bay shore or to the
fourishing towns on the rivers
run in from the bay. There
a number Of such towns of from
900 to ! 900 inhabitants. These
towns are distributing centres for
the outlying country Snow Hill,
from which | am writing, has
three banks, the stock of the best
one of which sells for S2z5 a share
Of 500 per value. There are
lines of steamboats, running be-
tween Baltimore and these river
towns. My own experience in one
OF these boats was not pleasant.
Starting from Baltimore for Girls
held at 5 p. m, we We're overtaken
at midnight, when about FORTY
miles down the bay, by a gale
which broke up the lower deck
and caused several passengers to
part with their supper. For
tunately we were near the mouth
OF the PawtuXent River, where
we put out an anchor and longed
for day" This boat had an i'm
mense load of fertilizer and 'the
odor of the ointment filled all the
house" | was told by an officer
on the boat that the bulk of the
freight until the middle or last of
March would be fertilizer, and not
half the manure made from the
domestic animals on the farms
ever does their soil any good.
These were great slave counties.
Partly because they were beyond
the field of activity during the
Civil War and partly because they
were in closer touch with the
North, with good railroad facili-
ties, they have not suffered as
much as have those on the Wes-
tern Shore. Many of the old
families have gone from the farms,
and large proportion of the best
farmers are the descendants of the
overseer class of slavery days
men who knew how to make a crop
and to work. and were not asham
ed to do 50. They rented at first
and afterward bought many of the
old farms. The whole family
worked. They made money, ed
ucated their children, and TODAY