ABOUT LOBSTERS 165 



Oh sure, you can buy a truck and set up an independent 

 express business of your own, but you are competing against 

 large concerns and there is the uncertainty of maintaining 

 profitable runs. One breakdown tying you up for several 

 days and you have lost a customer, maybe your big one. 

 Not so with lobstering. You can be laid up with a broken 

 leg and still get back into business as soon as you are well. 



It is a rewarding life. 



If you educate yourself to be a top-liner. A few really 

 good lobstermen clear up to $10,000 a year, and that is 

 wealth in a small coast town. 



There are other rewards too. Maine folk are kindly, 

 and you will live among them and among people who share 

 your interests. You will enjoy the winter work in your shop, 

 building pots, with perhaps some of your cronies or retired 

 lobstermen sitting around the stove, smoking and yarning. 



You will have the satisfaction of actually seeing how 

 much you have accomplished in each day's haul. Compare 

 this with a salesman who doesn't get an order on the same 

 day that he makes his best selling approach. His results are 

 often in the future when the glow of achievement is gone. 



It is a healthy life. 



Lobstermen dress to meet the weather, and being out- 

 doors all day is the healthiest sort of life. 



It seems to be a safe life, for few lobstermen are lost at 

 sea. There is a brotherly feeling among them and if one 

 man hasn't shown up at night the whole fleet of home boats 

 will put out and search all night for his broken-down vessel. 

 Few lobstermen are lost overboard though they are usually 

 alone and are sometimes careless in how they fling the warp 

 over the deck when hauling a pot. It is surprising that the 

 boatman doesn't get his foot caught in a loop of the warp 

 when the pot is dumped overside. It is probable that ac- 

 cidents in driving a truck or being run down in a city street 

 are more common than comparative mishaps in lobstering. 



It is an interesting job. 



The interest lies in the repeated anticipation of what the 



