140 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



ocean. A few years later he was wading on 

 the flats sailing mimic boats, or if the day 

 was stormy, rigging them in the barn. Be- 

 fore he knew the "rule of three" he could 

 tie a reef knot or explain the intricacies of 

 a bowline on a bight. The name of every 

 vessel owned in the town was familiar to 

 him, and which was the fastest sailer. On 

 rainy days or in sickness when other amuse- 

 ments failed his mother would bring down 

 the "treasure chest" from the attic, and 

 there the boy would sit and revel in the 

 spoils his sea-going ancestors had collected ; 

 seashells of every shape and color brought 

 from foreign shores, a string of pearls, 

 none perfect, from South America, the 

 carved shell of a cocoanut, a shark's tooth, 

 curiously carved ivory boxes from India 

 and a phial of gold dust from Africa. He 

 had seen them a hundred times before, but 

 they were ever new, and each brought a 

 message from the sea. 



As he grew older, winter evenings at the 

 store, he would join the group about the 



