The Corvallis gazette. (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, November 06, 1885, Page 2, Image 2

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    Corv allis Weekly Gazette.
GAZETTE PUBLISHING HOUSE, Pubs.
COKVALLIS,
OREGON
The cattle men evince a disposition
to defy the Pressdent's order, but
when the troops get after them they
will have to go. Public sentiment will
sustain the gc v;rnment in pretty de
cisive measun s with these aggressive
capitalists, who had begun to be
lieve that they were stronger than the
laws.
WHEN JACK IS TALI. AND TWENTY,
Brazil is taking steps to hasten the
extinction of slavery, that institution
having long ago begun to die out in
the Empire. The greatest of all South
American countries is keeping quiet
and minding its own business, but its
progress toward high civilization and
great power and wealth is rivaled by
no South American State save, per
haps, Chili and the Argentine Confed
eration, and neither of these coun
tries can ever equal Brazil in size and
possibilities of greatness.
The Railway Age notes an unexpect
ed activity in railway building. The
mileage of 626 proposed new roads and
those already in progress of construc
tion, is 44,303 The gerater part of
the proposed roads are to be short
local lines, intended for legitimate
needs of communities, and generally
wanted to give connection with exist
ing roads to open up regions destitute
of railway facilities. IntheCarolinas,
Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Ten
nessee, this activity is especially no
ticeable and cheering.
Ferdinand Ward, who financially
wrecked the Grant family, claims that
he is more sinned against than sinning.
He says he is not worth a dollar, and
is made the scape goat of others more
guilty than he. The impression is that
Ward it not more guilty than others,
but until he discloses the whole busi
ness he must bear the brunt of blame.
Ward has been living sumptuously in
Ludlow Street Jail at the expense of
unknown, but liberal.friends for nearly
a year and a half, since the Marine
Bank stopped paying 20 per cent, a
month to its favored investors. Fish
has gone to prison, muttering impotent
maledictions upon his partner, and
justice has rested on her sword.
The people of Illinois complain that
the tax system of that State is un
equal and unjust, and are organizing
leagues to more effectively work for a
zhange in the laws governing the sub
ject. The chief complaint seems to be
that real estate is called upon to bear
too great a share of the burden of
taxation, and this appears to be
borne out by the fact that out of a
total State revenue of $30,000,000,
realty pays $25,000,000. In Chicago
alone over $4,000,000 was taken last
year for general taxes, and $2,000,000
more on special assessments, while
personal property paid less than
81,000,000 and the large number of
railroads centering there only a little
over $200,000.
The population of Massachusetts,
according to the late census, lacks
only about 50,000 of being 2,000,
300, the increase in the last five years
being almost wholly in the cities and
towns. It is worth noticing that- the
population of Massachusetts has just
about doubled in 35 years the num
ber in 1850 having been 994,514
and that she now has a density of
population on her 8,040 square miles
of land surface of 242 persons to the
square mile. This is more than any
European country had in 1820, when
the overpopulation doctrines of Mal
thus were so much in vogue; for Hol
land and Belgium at that time count
ed only 239 to the spuare mile, and
England (in 1825) only 212.
When Jack is tall and twenty,
We know what Jack will do,
With girls so sweet and plenty,
He'll find him one to woo.
And soon the lover's twilight
Will hear a story told,
And Jack will die or fly sky high
For sake of hair of gold.
Hearken, Jack, and heed me
Ponder what I say!
'Tis fools are sold for locks of gold,
For gold will turn to gray.
But Jack, if truth be spoken,
Is simple Jack no more;
If gold his heart has broken,
'Tis scarce the gold of yore.
He wotR of dower for daughters
Not all in the ringlets roll'd;
To beauty steel'd his heart will yield
To stamped and minted gold.
Hearken, Jack, and heed me
Ponder what I say!
If gold hath wing as poets sing,
Then gold may fleet away.
When Jack goes forth a-wooing.
If Jack has heart or head,
And would not soon be rueing
The hour that saw him wed.
He will not pine for graces,
Nor cringe for wealth to hold,
But strive and dare by service fair
To win a heart of gold.
Harken, Jack, and heed me
Ponder what I say!
The gear will fly, the bloom will die,
But love will hist for aye.
-Good Words. Frederick Laxu bridge.
The Chicago Tribune has performed
a very valuable public service in can
vassing the Western and Southern
States for expressions of opinion on
the silver question. Its correspond
ents send about 120 reports, cover
ing nearly two pages of the paper,
from so many different points in nine
teen States. The Tribune, in its sum
mary of these opinions, says: Every
shade of opinion is represented, but it
would be difficult to prove from this
showing that silver has lost its popu
larity with the people. Many who
were earnest advocates of theremone
tization of silver now think it would
be prudent to suspend the coinage;
but it is clear that anything like the
demonetization of silver or its perma
nent withdrawal from circulation
would excite widespread opposition.
In the South and West.at least, the peo
ple are well satisfied with the silver dol
lars, and while there is a growing dis
position among prudent men to favor
a suspension of the coinage for a time,
it is plain that no such result can be
brought about ty arbitrary measures
enforced without regard to public
opinion.
UNMASKED CARD-SHAEPEE.
The Story fa TonngMan who was Detect
ed Cheating In n Club.
They were discussing the latest scan
dal. Ayoungman ofgoodeonnections
had been ignominiously expelled from
a club. Playing in collusion with a
professional gambler, he had cheated
at cards and in a few months he had
won a considerable sum.
"And lias he killed himself?" asked
some one.
"Bah!" replied another. "Do men
kill themselves for so little nowadays?
It was different in the good old times."
"In the good old times, as you call
them," said old General Roy, "those
who adopted the card-sharper's pro
fession killed themselves no more
than do those of the present time.
A few exceptions there may have been
among those who were detected at the
outset. But if the first attempt suc
ceeded, they did as they do to-rlay,
they quickly accustom themselves to
their degradation. Ah, it is so easv!
When respect for his own name we will
not restrain a man at the first step,
it is entirely dead within him, and even
a scandal will not revive it. By the
way, I can tell you of a curious case in
point, where the hero blew out his
brains, but it was not a suicide. Listen:
" 'It was some fifty years ago. The
press of that time was not the terrible
gossip that it is to-day, and sensation
al news never passed certain bounds.
There were not fewer scandals, but the
scandals were less known. In fact, I
think there were rather more. Not
that we are more virtuous, but the
fear of publicity is certainly a great
check.
"Among the elegant young fellows,
the gilded youth of those days, who
furnished the greater part of the scan
dalous gossip by their eccentrici
ties and duels, was a young gentle
man attached to the king's household.
I shall call trim the Vicomte Roland.
The name was not an illustrious one;
in fact, the vicomte was the fruit of
oneofthose mixed marriages introduc
ed by Napoleon I. General Comto Ro
land, whose heavy cavalry charges are
matters of history, had married the
daughter of the Marquis de Bransac, a
member of one of the wealthiest and
most powerful families of France. His
son was then about twenty-six years
of age. He had not the robust, plebi
an beauty of his father, who had been
one of the handsomest men in the ar
my. His was rather the delicate and
distinguished grace of his mother, whose
idol he was. Having loved her hus
band passionately the countess was
now. wrapped up in his son.
"The extra vagant life led by the son
had caused a quarrel between the par
ents. The countess lived in the Bran
sac Hotel, one of the finest in the Fau
bourg Saint Germain, while the general
secluding himself in a little chateau in
the forest of Senarfc, passed his time
in the pleasures of the chase. They
say he had ill-treated his wife, but it
was utterly untrue. The fact is that
there had been between the general and
his wife, two terrible scenes.
"The first was caused by an idea
which took possession of the countess.
She found this name 'Roland' too
Elebeian for her son, and tormented
er husband to obtain the king's au
thority to add to it that of De Bran
sac. The general energetically refus
ed. " 'My name hassufficed forme,' said
he 'for me who have made it famous.
It will do for this fine gentleman, my
son. If he does not find it brilliant
enough, let him try to add to its
lustre.'
"The second scene was brought
about by the vicomte abducting a bal
let dancer, and by a duel and a debt
which were the consequences of this
little affair. The general brought the
son before his mother and roughly re
proved him for his foliy. Instead of
supporting her husband; the countess
made excuses for her son. Women al
ways are indulgent toward the man in
a love scrape.
"As the general told his son that his
fortune was not sufficient to maintain
such scandalous absurdities, the
countess unhappily interjected:
"Oh, the fortune of the De Bransacs
will amply suffice for him.'
"She had not calculated the effect of
her speech. An hour later the general left
the hotel and went to his chateau; at
the end of a week thefamily notary in
formed the countess that her entire
personal fortune was at her disposal.
The separation was complete, and the
general lived alone on the fifteen thous
and francs which constituted the rev
enue he received from his own for
tune. "The son made ducks and drakes of
her fortune. At the end of six months
the countess was half ruined, and the
energy of the notary alone saved her
from her son's extravagances.
"All at once it became known that
the vicomte Roland no longer belonged
to the king's household, and that he
liad handed in his resignation as
lieutenant in a cavalry regiment. That
is what was given out, but rumors of a
different character were afloat. The
countess no longer appeared in public,
but confined herself to her hotel. In
a few weeks she seemed ten years older.
"The vicomte, after a voyage of
some weeks in Italy, returned to Paris,
took apartments in the Rue de la
Chaussee d'Antin, and lived the life of
an idler on the pension of a thousand
francs a month allowed him by his
mother. It would belittle to-day; but
at that time it enabled a man to make
quite a figure in the fashionable world.
He passed his time between love ad
ventures, the theatres, and the green
table. Then little by little his ele
gance and eccentricities began to be
talked about. Clubs were not as plen
tiful as they are now, but the gilded
youth and the gamesters had a few of
them where lovers of the green cloth
could amuse themselves.
"One evening when the Vicomte Ro
land, after having won a considerable
sum from one of his friends, offered
him his revenge, his opponent rose,
and, pushing away the cards, looked
at him in a singular manner.
" 'Well, no, Roland,' said he; 'what
with your luck with women and your
luck with cards, yoa have too much
luck for one man.'
"Roland, though somewhat choleric,
demanded no explanation,and content
ed himself with laughing.
"Some days after, the Perfect of Po
lice announced himself to the general
at his chatteau. What passed between
them I do not know. 11 that is known
of the affair is that mey returned to
gether to Paris.
"At eleven o'clock of the evening fol
lowing that interview, the vicomte was
seated at a table playing ecarte. He
had just won ten successive games from
an Englishman, who, passing through
Paris on his way home, had been in
troduced at the club by one of the
members.. Roland had a considerable
sum before him. The loser had just
risen, and before leaving the tablehad
bowed thrice, when an elderly gentle
man approached the table.
"'Will the Vicomte Roland permit
me to take the gentleman's revenge?"
"The young man paled. It was his
father.
" 'As yon are a bold player, I offer
you a bold game. It will be useless for
you to say that it is too high. Read.'
And the general handed him a note
folded twice.
"The vicomte glanced over it, and
shuddered visibly.
'Do yoa
tccep t ?
He bowed. The general seated him
self opposite his son, cut a king, and
dealt the cards. He won the first
A Pawnee Scalp Dance.
As I approached the lodge an hour
before sunset, I saw dangling from a
lodge pole, which rose far above the
lodge, the scalp around which the
' dance was to beheld. The scalp was
! that of a woman. The hair was fully
i eighteen inches long and of a red color,
j As I entered the lodge no one was with
; m except the dancers ten or twelve in
j number, who sat in a semi-circle at the
back of the lodge and opposite the en
! trance, and two attendants who busi
! ed themselves attending the wants of
the dancers. All was quiet, not a
word being spoken until near the set
' ting sun. Then the drummers beat
i with all their power, and in came the
! spectators (mostly men) pell-mell yell
! ing at the top of their voices. All
! seemed confusion, all were talking at
! once; but once in, all again became
! quiet as before. The dancers were
painted most fancifully, many being
covered all over with white or clay
; paint. Where only the faces was orna
j mented the more rare colors were used,
! such as red, green, blue, yellow, but all
! were painted beyond recognition.
1 Spotted Horse was the first to dance;
! he being the one who had cut the scalp
' from its owner. He came forth with
! dignified air, first described how he had
killed the woman and cut the scalp o8
before she was dead, even describing
I how she had screamed and pleaded for
! mercy. By use of the tomahawk he
j held, he acted out as near as possible
j the dreadful tragedy in which he had
i played so important a part. Then
came the dance; hrst t he dancer s head
and body are leaned forward, the head
reaching very near the ground, next
lifting the feet high in the air, he
throws himself back into a sitting
posture with such force as to
seem to jar the very lodge. A
knife was held in one hand, a medi
cine gourd in the other, the latter of
which was shook accompaniment to
the music of the Indian drums. The
dance was in exact unison with the
I music. At intervals he stopped and
j reviewed the story he had already re
j lated or some part of it, then again
; danced with more energy than before.
; Thus the dance was kept up for an
hour when he was joined by the rest of
the dancers. One by one they came
' forth and related some act of valor,
j after which the dance was again begun.
This dance was kept up until midnight
i when the presents were given. Many
of the spectators became so excited.
; they took from their own body their
1 wearing apparel and threw it to the
i dancers. Then came the big smoke.
The chief's pipes were filled by the
! chief himself with (Now-eo-cow) Indian
' tobacco which is kept in a buffalo head
and is thought to possess spiritual
! virtue, and sent by the attendant to
one of the spectators who is known to
THE RHODE ISLAND CLAM.
hand. When it was the vicomete's ' have made some present. He smokes
deal, netreniDlea slightly ana a strange
light shone in his eyes; nevertheless he
played on. The general won again.
"The vicomte rose, pale as a ghost,
and in a smothered voice said:
"In an hour, sir, I shall have acquit
ted myself.'
"He left the room without another
word.
"On the following morning the guar
dians of the Bois de Boulogne brought
in the body of the Vicomte Roland.
His head was blown to pieces, his
hand still grasping the pistol. In a
portfolio was found and unsigned
scrap of paper, on which were the
words:
"The loser will blow out his brains."
"The pretended Englishman was an
accomplished cardsharper, sent by the
prefect of police. The three bows had
been the sign agreed upon between him
and the general to indicate that the
vicomte had cheated.
"The game was one for life and death
between father and son. Both were
dishonored the son by his own act,
the father by the son's. But this dis
honor was a secret, which threatened
to become an open shame. Death
could stifle it the son's death or the
father's, for the stern old soldier would
have disgraced his son had that son.
not kept their pact. The price of the
general's secrecy was his son's life."
Translated for the Argonaut from the
French of Edouard Siebecker.
and passes it to such friend as he
wishes. After all who have given pres
ents are handed the pipe of sacred to
bacco the dance is either ended or they
begin anew, and repeat exactly what
I have related, dancing around the
same scalp, but after that night that
scalp is never danced around again.
The American Antiquarian.
Catherine's Ride.
We must not overlook a little epi
sode belonging to the period of mother's
visit to London, and connection with
another first cousin, CatherineMartin.
She was a daughter of John Wood, the
third son of the patentee, who lived in
great splendor at Wednesbury, where
he had inherited iron-works from his
father. Catherine, wife of a purser in
the navy, and conspicuoas for her
beauty and impulsive, violent temper,
having quarreled with her excellent
sister, Dorothea Fryer, at whose
house in Staffordshire she was staying,
suddenly set off to London on a visit
to her great uncle, Rev. John Pimley,
prebend of the collegiate church at
Wolverhampton and chaplain of Mor
deh college, Blackheath. She journey
ed by the ordinary mode of convey
ance, the gee-ho, a large stage-wagon
drawn bv a team of six horses, and
which, driven merely by day,
week from Wolverhampton
Co 3k and Bell, Smithneld.
Arrived in London, Catharine pro
ceeded on foot to Blackheath; there,
night having come on, and losing her
wav, she was suddenly accosted by a
horseman with: "Now, my pretty
girl, where are you going?" Pleased
by his gallant address, she begged him
to direct her to Mordon college. He
assured her that she was fortunate in
having met with him instead of one of
his company, and inducing her to
mount before him, rode across the
heath to the pile of buildings which
had been erected by Sir Christopher
Wren for decayed merchants, the re
cipients of Sir John Mordon's bounty.
Assisting her to alight, he rang the
bell, then remounted the steed and gal
loped away, but not before the alarm
ed official who had answered the sum
mons had exclaimed: "Heavens! Dick
Turpin on Black Bess!" Mother al
was said "Dick Turpin;" another ver
sion in thefamily runs "Capt. Smith."
MaryHowitt in Good Words.
took a
to the
Grey Hair.
i Medical and Surgical Reporter.
Many persons begin to show grey
hairs while they are yet in their
twenties, and some while in their teens,
j This does not by any means argue a
: premature decay of the constitution.
: It is a purely local phenomenom, and
: may coexist with unusual bodily vigor.
; The celebrated author and traveller,
j George Borrow, turned quite grey be
j fore lie was 30, but was an extraordi
i nary swimmer and athlete at 65.
Many feeble persons, and others who
; have suffered extremely, both mentally
: and physically, do not blanch a hair
until past middle life; while others,
; without assignable cause, lose their
capillary coloringmatterrapidly when
about forty years of age.
! Race has a marked influence. The
I traveller, Dr. Orbigny, says that in the
many years he spent in South America,
he never saw a bald Indian, and
1 scarcely every a grey haired one. The
! negroes turn more slowly than the
! whites. Yet we know of a negress of
! pure blood, about 35 years old, who is
j quite grey. In this country, sei ap
j pears to make little difference. len
; and women grow grey about the same
period of life. In men the hair and
j beard rarely change equally. The one
I is usually darker than the other for
! several years, but there seems to be no
general rule as to which whitens first.
; The spot where greyness begins differs
j with the individual. The philosopher
Schopenhauer began to turn grey on
j the temples, and complacently framed
a theory that this is an indication of
j vigorous mental activity.
The correlation of grey hair, as well
as its causes, deserves more attention
and study than they have received.
Such a charge is undoubtedly indica
tive of some deep-seated psychological
process, but what this is we can only
ascertain by a much wider series of ob
servation than have yet been submit
ted to scientific analysis.
In 1874, Clarence A. Portley, who
had lately graduated from West Point,
married Miss Maggie Alexander, daugh
ter of Dr. Alexander, a New York mill
ionaire. When the wedding ceremony
was over, Dr. Alexander handed his
son-in-law an envelope containing
$100,000 in government bonds.
"Thank you," replied the gratified
son-in-law; and then heasked, "But as
we are going away would it not be bet
ter that you should keep the money
till wereturn?" "I'll do so," answered j
the delighted father-in-law, and his j
half-choked words, "God bless you, my j
children," were lost among the clatter j
of the departing carriage and the val- i
edictory shouts. JMot long ago Air.
Alexander died without a will, and no
mention was made of the $100,000,
though his property was left to his
laught er . A friendly suit has now been
instituted to determine the ownership
of the $100,000, the wife wanting her
husband to have the money.
j Its History from the Ocean Hnd to the Table.
I As at present served a clam dinner
prepared to fill, as it often is, from
I five to fifteen or twenty thousand peo
1 pie In the course of a few hours, is
a stupendous affair, and from the bot
; torn up is a work to be admired as a
whole and wondered at in its details,
1 and few of the thousands who in the
course of the summer season sit down
j to clam dinners appreciate the work
: entailed in its preparation. First and
; foremost, says The Providence Journal,
there is the clam. Most of the clams
' used at the shore resorts of Narragan
i sett bay come from the flats across the
; bay from Nayatt, on the Conimicut
; shore and on Green's island. As far
up as Pawtuxet and about Sabin's
1 point the clams are considered hard,
; srlue shelled' and gritty; but across at
Bullock's point they are good, and
; the Bullock's pointers get their clams
right at home. Two-thirds of the
clams are got by "churning." The
clam-gang wades out, over the bed and
j shovels up mud and clams and every
thing that comes along into big wire
! baskets, which, when about full, are
: ""ted out of the water, and a rinsing
jnd shaking washes out the mud and
; leaves the clams. Two men and a boy
attend to each basket, one man shovel
I ing in the mud, the second getting out
! the clams, and the boy "ending" them,
i Churning can only be done at about
! half-tide, when the water is two or
three feet deep, as, by the time the
workman has to put his head under
water when he bends over at shovel
ing, he soon has to give up the job.
The suction on the shovels is tremen
dous, and they are made exceptionally
strong. When there are good tides,
on the full and change of the moon,
the clams may be raked out after the
i manner of non-professional diggers: a
! shovelful of mud is turned up at the
J time, and the clams it contains are
j raked out with the clam-hoe. Con
sideration of either of the above meth
ods is suflicent for a true understand
ing of the happiness of the clam at
high water. The clam ordinar.lv lies
: in the mud from two to eighteen
I inches; a clam that would bury itself
j much deeper than eighteen inches is
not to be looked upon with favor. It
is a wearing life that the clam diggers
lead, working as they do five or six
hours at a time in the water, and so
hard as to be constantly wet with per
; spiration.
Capt, J. H. Northrup, who has been
the captain of the Rocky point clam
gang for some eleven years, and has
probably handled more clams in his
lifetime than any other man in Rhode
Island, gave The Journal representative
some interesting facts about the busi
ness. He said that at Rocky point
alone last year some 4,000 bushels of
.dams for the bake alone were used.
His regular clan gang is seventeen or
eighteen men. but on big days it is
necessary to increase the force to fifty
or sixty men. This year the clams on
Green's island are only one year old,
and are ready for the bake a remark
able case of clam growth. It appears
that when the clams are in great
abundance they grow very slowly, and
those used last year from Green's
island were about three years old; but,
being few of them "set" one year ago,
they grew large enough to use very
rapidly.
"Do the clams ever run out before
the season is ended?" was asked the
captain.
"Oh, yes; and then we huve to look
somewhere else for them. .Now, this
year, before the season is over we
shall probably have to leave our pres
ent place and dig over in Cole's river
and in the Kickemuit river. Those
will be Massachusetts clams, of course,
but they are flavored with Rhode
Island water. Already the clams on
Graen's island ate thinning out, and
on the 1st of August 1 shall raise the
nay of my men. lhey get 80 cents a
bushel now, and their pay will be
raised to $1 per bushel. Do 1 expect
the clams will get run out entirely ?
Well, not just yet, and at present the
prospect is something wonderful for
next car. I never saw such a 'set' of
clams as are all along the shore now;
if they all lived there would be enough
clams to supply the world next year.
Just come with me and take a look."
The tide was about half in, and the
mud-flats were scattered over with all
sorts of refuse, shells, and weeds. The
captain bent down and picked up what
looked at first like a minute, broken
off bit of clam-shell, but as it lav in
his hand, a closer look rcveale;l it a perfectly-formed
clam-shell, a beautiful
object, not as big as a baby's little
finger nail, as white as alabaster, and
the light showing pink through its
delcate substance. The least pres
sure would have crushed it to almost
invisible atoms. "That's a clam,"
said the captain, "that's maybe three
weeks old, and you'll find millions
about here. As quick as they get any
size they will begin to burrow down
into the mud. The whole shore is
covered with them, and in all my ex
perience of thirty years I never saw
such a 'set.' They are so thick that
the prospect is they will not grow fast,
and it will take two or three years for
them to get big enough unless they
die off. A Handful of these will make
more'ii a bushel when they are grown
up." A careful look over the muddy
beach revealed there beautiful minia
ture clam-shells yet without a trace of
meat within them in hundreds, and a
microscope would have shown thou
sands where the few were visible to
the naked eye.
As the men are paid for their dig
ging by the bushel, it is evident that
on skill and hard work depends the
amount of money the digger gets,
while "churning" is evidently more
profitable than "raking." Every
shore resort has its thoroughbred dig
ger, who can get more clams in a
oiven time than any other man. One
fVlarcellus Hall, a big negro, had in
lis day a record to be proud of at dig
ging clams. Capt. Northrup says that
le is willing to back William Kinnccum,
i man who has been years with him,
as the champion clammer of the day
with a rake, and lie certainly has at
Rocky point a reputation to be envied
in his chosen profession.
Well, once the clams are out of the
.vater and in the boats, they are towed
to shore, where they are piled in a
ihed, picked over, and carefully wash
ed. Five or six men are employed
constantly at this work at the larger
resorts. The preparation of the pile
on which the clams are to bake is the
next step, and this is done on much
the same plan everywhere; a pile of
wood is laid, on' every layer of which
cobblestones are placed, and the burn
ing of the wood heats the stones and
makes them ready to have the clams
thrown on top. At Rocky point,
instead of building the pile on the
ground it is laid on a surface of stone
cemented with fire-clay, and some
such plan has been adopted in other
places. This allows of the stones be
ing pulled off al ter the wood is con
sumed and the plate swept clear of
ashes, when the stones are piled on it
again. Over the hot stones a mass of
rockweed is piled, and the sight of a
line of waiters with tubs of clams be
tween them running at breakneck
speed for the pile, forming a circle
about it, and emptying the tubs on
top with a concerted effort, is familiar.
Over the whole the canvas is laid, sea
weed is heaped, and a fragrant steam
arises from the pile. Twenty minutes
later the clams are ready for the table.
The Rhode Island clam is, alas,
going out of use for chowder. It has
too much grit in its belly, and when it is
cutup it makes a chowder not agreeable
to look at and so about two-thirds of the
chowder clams are quahaugs so to
express it. Old-fashioned people say
they like the longneck clams better,
but the quahaugs are white and clean
and palatable thus prepared, and of
late years have come into general use.
If the visitor to Rocky point should
chance to stroll down toward the
beach behind the laundrv-honse he
would discover near the water an old
shed. Against the side facing him is
a huge pile of quahaug shells, and
through a slit that runs the whole
length of the shed quahaug shells are
flying out in a way at once mysterious
and startling. But behind the opening
is a bench, and at the bench are three
or four men opening quahaugs for
chowder, "cut-outs" they call them,
and a few of the largest clams are also
cut out for I he same purpose. The
quahaug come from Edgartown, and
a schooner brings two hundred or three
hundred bushels of them every fort
night, which are emptied in a shed
where the water constantly Hows over
them. Quahaugs "grows" close to
the surface of the mini and are raked
out the same as ovsters, or mav be
"trod out" at low water. Three hun
dred gallons of chowder make an aver
age course for a good-sized excursion
party. Patent clim choppers chew
lonsrneck.s and littlenecks into tidbits
in no time to put into caldron.
As for fish, that is cut up and pack
ed on grates by the half ton in two
ovens. Clam cakes swim about and
fry in a small pond of melted lard on
top of a big oven, and two hundred
pounds of liquid lard bubbling and
sizzling float the hundreds of cakes;
one man drops in the dough from a
huge tin dishful, and a second is em
ployed in turning them and taking
them out. Five barrels of flour per
week represents the average consump
tion of clam cakes at a well-patrouized
resort. For the other details of the
feast, melons and potatoes are bought
by the hundreds and cart-loads; bread
is baked by the hundred loaves in the
proportion of 500 white to 250 brown
loaves; butter is laid in store by the
half ton; and between twenty" and
thirty waiters are required to serve it
all up in the large dining hall.
The shells are about the only things
left after a well-organized excursion
party has attacked a clam-bake. These
are carted off and dumped on some
stretch of waste land. The accumu
lated shells of a season of some eighty
days is considerable. They lie in the
sun until the following spring. Then
they are spread over the road, and
prime roads they do make. The qua
haug shells make the best, and are
spread about the cottagers' highways
and in the more "select" localit es.
A Kind of Temperance Work.
Our frying pans are responsible for
a great deal of .drunkenness. The
candy habit which fond mothers ig
norantly cultivate in their children
tends directly toward the habit of
drinking lager beer or something
stronger. Poor food, commonly mis
called "rich," keeps up the craving
for liquor, and calls foi saloons.
We may study this great subject in
all its bearings, and we may express
our thoughts and feelings at every
lilting opportunity, and we may vote
when we can; but the great work
to be done is in our homes, not mainly
by talking, but by doing. Everything
done for the health, happiness, intelli
gence and integrity of our children
(our own and ail within our influence)
is directly against what Hilda calls
the "liquor traffic." We must begin
with the babes. We must study the
food question. We must teach sim
pie physiology and hygiene to the
children. We must cultivate in them
the power of resisting temptation to
sensual indulgences of any kind.
When the demand for liquor saloons
ceases, they will be easily closed.
Pen Stemmon in Pioneer Pi ess.
The American Girl.
Americans may be known by the
ievkiness of their movements and their
eager restlessness of expret-sion. When
the fair American acquires repose
and, she sometimes does she is charm
ing. But as a rule she is so impetous
ly impulsive that one is nearly always
kept on the qui vive, expecting her to
go off like a champagne cork, but with
out the least warning. Have you ever
observed how much vivacity there is,
too, in American elbows? They are
full of expression, 1 can assure you,,
and the American "nudge," when re
ceived in thorough earnest, is some
times to be remembered. I have an
American friend, that I love and ad
mire, but I have had to entreat her
rather to knock me down than to
"nudge" me, as she calls the violent
excrctee of elbow wherewith she has
be wont to attract my attention. The
verb is a feeble and futile expression
of the thing itself. Were she to be
stow one of her nudges upon a strang
er, that astonished invidual would cer
tainly ffive ber in charge for assault
and battery.
Theodore TtTjnas is traveling in France
with his wife