THE LEGEND OF THE SALT MARSHES (SAN LUIS PASS, BRAZORIA COUNTY)
Reading edition
By Bertha McKee Dobie
A great many years ago a fisherman lived with his wife and young child at the Pass. One day when the wind was east and the boor was on the bar, he went out in his boat to fish. The wind blew stronger, the billows rose higher, and a great tide came in, flooding the salt marshes that border the Pass. The fisherman did not return. A few days later other fishermen found the young wife, quite demented, wandering in the salt marshes and calling, “Come back! Come back!” Since that time, when the wind is east and the boor is on the bar, the white form of the woman flits over the marshes and cries, “Come back! Come back!” in warning to fishermen whose boats are on the water.
It is probable that the white wings and the hoarse cries of the giant gulls that come in to the marshes only when there is a high east wind and the lives of fishermen are threatened have given rise to this legend of the salt marshes. Such an explanation, at least, was suggested to Mrs. Shannon by Mr. Lon Follet.