Rock and Roaring Rock, High Point and East Point, and Spouting Rock; we
went to see where a ship had been driven ashore in the night, all hands
being lost and not a piece of her left larger than an axe-handle; we
visited the spot where a ship had come ashore in the fog, and had been
left high and dry on the edge of the marsh when the tide went out; we
saw where the brig Methuselah had been wrecked, and the shore had been
golden with her cargo of lemons and oranges, which one might carry away
by the wherryful.

Inland there were not many noted localities, but we used to enjoy the
woods, and our explorations among the farms, immensely. To the westward
the land was better and the people well-to-do; but we went oftenest
toward the hills and among the poorer people. The land was uneven and
full of ledges, and the people worked hard for their living, at most
laying aside only a few dollars each year. Some of the more enterprising
young people went away to work in shops and factories; but the custom
was by no means universal, and the people had a hungry, discouraged
look. It is all very well to say that they knew nothing better, that it
was the only life of which they knew anything; there was too often a
look of disappointment in their faces, and sooner or later we heard or
guessed many stories: that this young man had wished for an education,
but there had been no money to spare for books or schooling; and that
one had meant to learn a trade, but there must be some one to help his
father with the farm-work, and there was no money to hire a man to work
in his place if he went away. The older people had a hard look, as if
they had always to be on the alert and must fight for their place in the
world. One could only forgive and pity their petty sharpness, which
showed itself in trifling bargains, when one understood how much a
single dollar seemed where dollars came so rarely. We used to pity the
young girls so much. It was plain that those who knew how much easier