v...__\‘
. 'f-'-'\" 3-, .4; r
l\
0 3w
V”“.s‘:
‘3 ‘J 8 .' .
"g '. :23 .E :3
- - _ .E ~ - ‘5 m '2
MILII t tr 3 g; 5 g .5;
:> c: >‘ m
. I “-62 I . g ,3
o _ b0 ‘3
l- s l h_ ll 15-.- .9 § t, . Er e 3
0 r“ :z: 5, 5
'IT' >~ '53 5
‘q a "A E - 1' O H
W ° :2 t Mi :2 s
' y.” .. {'3 £3 >~
‘lfls s _, ' 4.! 2 it; E) (.3
I s. as t a . . . : E
.5
"‘ T 5E E‘ OER pl 8 5
=5 .-
g ---- I: g r is)
' 8 ”J I .53 5,3
- £1 5 \ I I , O "i :3
a t - p 5t s S. -f s
i I F I; H
~— ' r O
. as .3 . ..
I o I“ .. rim 0 ‘3 R £349: *5
.- E _ . I v; <'« a:
(I3 8 W ID I _. - ,3
Ni I% P 51? S 33 8
"pl '5 1515 'T‘ 8 T0 ; ....
.. 1'
.. :3 i ' '5 II— ’5 ..
o 0 ll! .. — c.)
>\ ‘ —— :3 _i.\ E
'8 — 93 '%) ' 9
c3 __ 3 —— . o \ .3
,- I, Fee .11 i. is g
:9 p T ,3“ VII :13 7—3
s r its ,
'5 5" .LClt. l '5
r t s s
a .
L} 5-? El.” I 0 r< :
s ' " l ‘ I '5 e a
l‘ e a
a... 3 “IE; 73 .8
" .I K _ I
>‘ III _-_- , ’2 [—1
:53 7 it Kill“) II .2 5
k .L H r: . ..
Tlig l9 3‘ 5;: .E
5 I C3 Pg U)
S III i w
' E “1 l 0 ~ 3
H” 3 III? -Ic g )5 g o
- , I g: :1
"I a r E! 59 i}, .
5 g as I .,
I . I .. 1' II)8 2* e
r- v—s "' h k .‘g :5 I
OF. — . CD
iw I.- E: ,__ '
It? ‘ .— (IEIFEN g5r” l H h
I * I, . rm; w II e
“a I; 6 I5 "L- 8 till SE The? ’ It 5 0‘s
3 'U — I as rIIe' l . ’3' J5“
5‘ = its as... * I! g :g ..I ti 5s I B
a a) we: die In. a
‘W W WW -
! ~ :5 .IIiiiin I It?! 25.. >:
' s i 5 2| u .;I ‘ = ; d m
2 ." .‘ I [I I ‘ I II I I 5 V “U
a,- ‘2 .0 1IIII‘. ""II' '3 "‘3 5"
<1 15‘ § .\ IIIII Wei—II Ill; Ig 5.3
E E g JIM" III III,1 I>. a;
D '35 5 Iain III. i .5. a
< s a . 5 'Iil _ :Ist ; a
3 #4 ‘i Isl! .1 II: I) I“; 5
M 5 II' III |.-5 II <2 8
. s r: ~~I c; 11:9 " a 5
E-I I s E l”! :3 I! IIEI s D— ,3
I <3 II‘IIE’ II. ;II.. 8 r:
m 3 ’ “ J t kl't '9» d
m D g I +1 Im‘. II!‘ FE: 1:2
[—4 u-t :3 8 ' If H O
.4 9 d E 1‘ ti 5
< fa” :3 5 II 'a s
I“ C p‘ a :~
3 :55 ‘5 "I' . g o
a s 5 ‘W l D a a
>, B5 I l‘ g; 3
0 we a. Q.— I D .3
. o '5 5 III E ’5
U k ’30 ‘ lzl O >
S .. ‘a e - i“? - ' s 5
_. s g >5 ”we we I e 3
last 2 g :4 --"‘~ l3 I 5: 5
r 8 5 s i .23. II 5
'l l
ta 5'55 2 ,1: I .. g
. 55 E ' m 5’3
... .a .
a " p I f:
' r: i .c:
va’ 8 a ‘ 3
'3 . ie, %
raj 53 “8 °
._‘_ 3' a. I 5
{My .2 - H “52'
F—«
‘7 ‘ I .. 3
31* 2% TL“: 8‘
9m“ ,‘ H
. 44 1,! 0
LI-l *6 Th 9 5. III 8.
Z III '71 3
.4 msg "é
a I a 5
L;-
1 9. I. . "2‘:
:3 ‘ ... .cJ _.
< .e -.-- g
m '3 II to 3
L’- < ‘ Te 52.
C IT 7 E
_' 3-1 r
0 I'll 5
>3“ ‘V‘ I-
43;: ‘ L.T 1.. o
S) , - I P r: c:
re ‘5? 3 I U
as: ‘ ,, "Wm B 3’:
.0“?th lil'fi 3
If; 4. . _ A, JINIII . (t?
s5 5» :I': $ng 2 a
\fi5373 (32L? 1 I gyID ,
W
I“;
5"‘/-u1r“"”"\."‘~u""wj
pearly gates with Uncle Tim, Imay enter the gates within, The pearly gates with Uncle Tim. .................
CV63.
Copyright, The New York Musical Echo Co., 1894.
W’.
lheNeanr Wet lylrihune
AND
:32.
? lH * lKll Glle
. One ' Y'ear,
”QWOE ” “LLQHRI
c.
Address all orders to the GAZETTE.
Crabs! Crustaceal Crabs!
When roastedcrabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl.
-—Shakespeare
These are glorious days for the lovers
of shell-fish. The return of the missing
B to its proper place in the calendar
restores the confidence of the public in
the hardy crustacean of our coast.
Strange is popular prejudice, so strong
as to banish from many tables the
choicest sea food at its prime. Many a
man avoids not only the oyster in sum-
mer, but he puts the ban upon harmless
crabs and lobsters at this season of per-
fection. Residents - of this city how.
ever, are not, with possibly a few ex-
ceptions, of this class, and anticipating
the departure of the crabs upon the
approach of cold weather to bury
themselves in the mud beyond the
shoals until warm weather draws them
from shelter again, organize parties of
ladies and gentlemen as crabbing
parties, and their daily catches run up
in the hundreds. A favorite way with
the ladies for catching them is to tie a
piece .of raw meat or a tough clam to a
line and dropping it in the water “wait
for a bite,” when they carefully pull
up the line and as the crab comes in
sight hanging to the bait, deftly put a
hand-net under him and land him in
the boat. At present the favorite
“hunting ground”for them is at Compo,
near Saugatuck.
Upon the crabbing. grounds at Cres-
field, Md, the fisher does not wait for
the crab to quit their shelter but sails
out to the right spot, and sets his trol-
lines with tripe for the hard shells, and
his net dredge for shedders. Of course
many hard shells come up in the dredge
nets of the soft crab fishers ; these are
lighter than the oyster dredges and are
finished With a netted pocket, which
drags along the bottom and brings up
all sorts; the soft crabs are picked out
by hand, the legs folded close to the
body, and the crabs packed obliquely
in trays containing layers of sea grass
and chopped ice, with the heads to the
top of the crates, So that the moisture
cannot run from their mouths.
Soft shell crabs shed their shells as
often as they out grow them, the large
ones changing only once or twice a
year. When in the take of crabs any
are found With the shells just cracking,
they are put into “the pound,” a large
box kept under water, until they have
“moulted,” when they are shipped to
market at once, because the shell hard-
ens rapidly.
Hard crabs, showing the signs of
"‘moulting.” well known to the fisher-
men, are always kept in the pound or
float until they are prime for market;
they are called “comers” at Crisfield,
which place sends over 5,000,000 crabs
to market yearly. In warm weather
the “buster,” or moulting crab, comes
into shallow water, where he can hide
in the long grass, for he knows that the
first hard shell he encounters will try
to devour him; he has “been there
many a time” himself. Until they at-
tain full growth crabs moult about
every five months at flood tide. The
best time for crabbing is just after day-
break, but the crabs can be found all
day long if the grass inshore is hunted,
3
in the shallows. The inlets in Norwalk
harbor and at Saugatuck, are fine crab-
bing grounds, especially is this true of
the latter place.
There are in the waters about Nor-
walk, hard shells. soft crabs—the weak-
lings of the marine flocks—fiddlers,
king crabs and baby oyster crabs.
There is a good word to be said about
all of them. Special mention may be
made of'the oyster crabs, which are
delicious when boiled for a minute in a
cream sauce slightly thickened with
flour and seasoned with salt and cay-
enne ; mark this, and make friends
with some busy “oyster-shucker.” Re-
member, too. if a king crab or horse-
shoe shouldbe cast at your feet, “all
alive-oh,” that somewhere in the depths
of his horny shell lurks a mouthful or
two of savory flesh, and that fiddlers
carry an atom of sweetness in their
sole big claw.
The horse-shoe, or king crab, is that
queer, roundish,‘ shell, with a long,
sharp spine at the small end, and a sort
of hinge about a third above it. It is
a most uninviting-looking creature, and
the spiny end is a proper thing to avoid
when tramping the seashore barefoot. ,
The possibility of this product may be
calculated, when we remember that the
king crab fishers of Delaware bay aver-'
age an annual catch of 2,000,000. Dur-
ing May and June they are gathered at
ebb tide, shoveled into carts and taken
to pens made of fence rails, prepara-
tory to being converted into 1 rtilizer.
The eggs are sometimes salte down as
sturgeon roe is, for caviare. This prep-
aration is said by experts to equal that
made from sturgeon roe.
What description can do justice to the
soft shell ? they must be eaten to be
appreciated; but then—oh horrors 1—
they must be killed, like lobsters, before
they can be eaten. . It requires the
nerve of an ichthyophagus or a “down
South cullud pusson” to make that nec-
essary circular cut around behind the
eyes, to pluck forth the soft fins, to’
plunge them into melted butter, or egg
and cracker dust, and then into smok-
ing hot fat. They scramble sometimes
—ugh 1—but then they are so good!
Above all are they excellent when in-
closed between the wires of a double
gridiron, dripping from their buttery
bath, and broiled over a hot fire.
Hard shell crabs when just caught
are very lively and if taken home alive
they best be bestowed in acovered wash
tub, otherwise they might be quite
Sportive. To boil them plunge them
head first into plenty of boiling water,
and as soon as the shells turn red take
them up; then they are ready to serve
hot, with sweet butter and lomon juice.
Large napkins should be provided for
the handling of the hot shells; the soft
fins under the legs are discarded. and
the flap or apron ‘on the undershell,
which retains the eggs in spawning.
The eggs are edible and also the coral
and the yellow and green fat.
Rev. William L. Beard was ordained
a foreign missionary at the meeting of
the Fairfield East consociation, at Hun-
tington, Tuesday.
Norwalk Chronicler