The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-08-17
CURIOUS SINGING CLANS
HAVE MADE DCXBURY, MASS,
FAMOUS AS A RESORT.
When Tide Is in and Water Covers
the Flats the CLAIMS BurFoW in
Sand Until Water Recedes.

Sand Until Water Recedes.
From Duxbury, Mass, comes the
news that the singing clans, for
which that resort has long been ia
nous, are now facing determination
and will soon be relegated to the past
along with the dodo, side hill gouger
and plesiosaurus.
Phineas Railnettor, choirmaster Of
| the little church on the hill in DuX-
bury, says that the Singing CLANS
have been one of Duxbury's greatest
attractions since the landing of the
Pilgrims, and the rapacity and inor-
dinate appetite of the newcomers Of
the summer colony are responsible
for the fact that they are being rap
idly wiped out.
"By newcomers I mean those of
the summer colony who have been
coming to Duxbury for only the past
so years.
"The clans are different from any
of their kind in the world, and that is
one reason why the government
ought to preserve them even if the
residents of Duxbury have so little
pride in the greatest attraction of
their town. Unlike all other shell
fish these clans have an aversion to
water This combined with their
singing seems to me to prove con-
clusively that they are descended
from birds.
''They live along the shores of the
bay, where there are long stretches
of mud and sand flats. My investiga-
lions proved to me that when the
tide was in and water covered these
| flats the clans, disliking the water,
burrowed down into the soft bottom
for a few inches and waited there I'M
| til the water receded. Their keen
sense of sound told them when it was
gone, and they then came to the sur
face, zig-zagging their way through
the soft ooze.
"Then they lie outside their holes,
and after a few moments open their
shells. Immediately the singing COM
mences. In wierd, minor key, like
the notes of an aeolian harp far off
in the forests, their plaintive voices
arise. Forty years ago there were
almost millions Of them, and the
grand chorus, half an hour after the
tide went out, was most amazing.
"As the tide came in each succeed
! ing wave covering more clans, this
chorus died out, until by the time the
waves were tapping the marsh grass
it was absolutely stilled.
THE natives and fishermen of DuX-
bury never ate the CLAIMS. In fact,
they were known to feed them the
cranberries for which Duxbury is ia
nous. They were proud of Their
singing clans and their little voices
led to the children#of the village call
ing them the little Angels of the Bay.
1t used tc be the custom. when the
tide was low at night, for the lads
and lassies to stroll or sit along the
beach listening to the CLANS. Their
faint, sweet voices heard in the moon
light have prompted many a good
man to pop the fatal question.
Now all this is changed. A crude
business person discovered that each
voice came from a clam that was per-
fectly good to eat. He started out
to catch them, and before long their
fame as steamed CLANS became
known among all the colonists and
the end was in sight. The colonists
now bring clam forks as part of
their baggage when they move to
Duxbury each summer, and with one
of these any man or woman who does
not mind a little mud can pick up
enough CLANS for a family meal in a
very short time. Yes, the women also
catch the clans. One would think
that they have too much heart to
still those small voices in frying
pan, but they haven't.