d baskets--the
baskets being filled with small children as a means of keeping both them
and the children stationary.

Grandma was always present on these occasions, and the hilarity of the
Wallencampers, as they were jounced and joggled over the stones, in a
manner which to some might have been productive of great bodily agony,
concealed, with them, no undercurrent of nervous dread or pain. They were
kind enough to regard the presence of the "teacher" as indispensable to
their complete enjoyment, while I was ready to congratulate myself that
my society alone was the object desired, for though I brought my
near-sighted vision to bear faithfully upon the sands, I never succeeded
in capturing a clam.

I heard that Bachelor Lot had confided aside to Captain Sartell that
"Teacher'd ought to bring a hook and line. The clams 'ud go for it in a
minute if she'd only bring a hook and line;" and, stung by the unsheathed
sarcasm of this remark, I was accustomed afterwards to wander off towards
"Steeple Rock." The rock was accessible at low-tide, and from thence I
could watch the ocean on one side, and the clam-diggers on the other;
could see Grandma on her hands and knees, a dot of broad good nature
in the distance, always remaining apparently in the one place, and
always, somehow, getting her basket full of clams as she gradually sank
deeper and deeper into the briny soil; but no true Wallencamper ever
caught cold by soaking in the brine.

I could distinguish Madeline wandering lightly about among the rocks,
scraping off mussels with her hoe; and the Modoc, the champion
clam-digger of all, spreading her tentacles here and there, and never
failing to come up with a bivalve. It was a picturesque scene, viewed
from the great rock; and when the tide began to sweep in again, George
Olver sent a piercing whistle along shore, to call the stragglers
together; clams, children, and all were loaded into the cart, and jostled
gayly homeward erased by the fresh sea breezes.

For the chowder, which in due course of events arose to take its place
among the viands on the Ark board, I would leave it to that sacred and
tenfold mystery with which, to my mind, it was ever enshrouded.

* * * * *

I recall the exhibitions held at the school-house, confined exclusively
to the native talent of Wallencamp, at which the old and young were
assembled to speak pieces.

It was then that Aunt Rhoda and Aunt Cinthia, matron