e 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
believe, I am sure, that other people have, and when a great shark or
black-fish or sword-fish was taken and brought in shore, everybody went
to see it, and we talked about it, and how brave its conqueror was, and
what a fight there had been, for a long time afterward.

I said that we liked to see the boats go out, but I must not give you
the impression that we saw them often, for they weighed anchor at an
early hour in the morning. I remember once there was a light fog over
the sea, lifting fast, as the sun was coming up, and the brownish sails
disappeared in the mist, while voices could still be heard for some
minutes after the men were hidden from sight. This gave one a curious
feeling, but afterward, when the sun had risen, everything looked much
the same as usual; the fog had gone, and the dories and even the larger
boats were distant specks on the sparkling sea.

One afternoon we made a new acquaintance in this wise. We went down to
the shore to see if we could hire a conveyance to the lighthouse the
next morning. We often went out early in one of the fishing-boats, and
after we had stayed as long as we pleased, Mr. Kew would bring us home.
It was quiet enough that day, for not a single boat had come in, and
there were no men to be seen along-shore. There was a solemn company of
lobster-coops or cages which had been brought in to be mended. They
always amused Kate. She said they seemed to her like droll old women
telling each other secrets. These were sca