lived an apparently desolate life by himself in a hut and was reputed to
have been a bloodthirsty pirate in his youth. He was consequently feared
by all the children, and for misdemeanors in his latter days avoided
generally. Kate talked with him awhile one day on the shore, and made
him come up with her for a bandage for his hand which she saw he had
hurt badly; and the next morning he brought us a "new" lobster
apiece,--fishermen mean that a thing is only not salted when they say it
is "fresh." We happened to be in the hall, and received him ourselves,
and gave him a great piece of tobacco and (unintentionally) the means of
drinking our health. "Bless your pretty hearts!" said he; "may ye be
happy, and live long, and get good husbands, and if they ain't good to
you may they die from you!"

None of our friends were more interesting than the fishermen. The
fish-houses, which might be called the business centre of the town, were
at a little distance from the old warehouses, farther down the harbor
shore, and were ready to fall down in despair. There were some fishermen
who lived near by, but most of them were also farmers in a small way,
and lived in the village or farther inland. From our eastern windows we
could see the moorings, and we always liked to watch the boats go out or
come straying in, one after the other, ripping and skimming under the
square little sails; and we often went down to the fish-houses to see
what kind of a catch there had been.

I should have imagined that the sea would become very commonplace to men
whose business was carried on in boats, and who had spent night after
night and day after day from their boyhood on the water; but that is a
mistake. They have an awe of the sea and of its mysteries, and of what
it hides away from us. They are childish in their wonder at any strange
creature which they find. If they have not seen the sea-serpent, they