NATIONALITY AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 13 



" Literary tastes ; associations.— The fisherman reads but little, in fact almost noth- 

 ing in the way of books, and confines himself almost wholly to story papers, though no one paper 

 seems to have a preference. 



" The seaman, be he fisherman or not, has, from long and constant association with his fellows, 

 grown to be a man who is discontented in solitude. He has been so long and constantly in the com- 

 pany of others that he cannot endure being alone ; and just here we find a partial explanation of 

 his discontent with the ordinary shore life. When at home in winter he is not satisfied to remain 

 by himself ; he must have other men around him, and we see him congregating with others at 

 an old wharf where they may while away the time in jesting together and in conversation about 

 things pertaining to their vocation. If one is going to the village half a mile away he will wait 

 an hour for the sake of having some one to walk down with, and, conversing only on subjects con- 

 nected with his work, he gradually comes to enjoy himself only in the society of fishermen. Who 

 has not overheard a conversation between two old salts and observed how easily it drifted into 

 things connected with the sea and how persistently it clung there? 



" Home life. — The man being away so much his wife learns to act as his agent, and generally 

 being the more capable of the two she controls matters at home, and he comes often in the capacity 

 of a boarder. Her word is considered better than his, and she is not infrequently the leader. He 

 neglects work about the house at the proper time and cuts his wood in the snow, &c. During the 

 hard times he has mortgaged his house, and often two families live together with little or nothing 

 attractive about them." 



4. THE FISHERMEN OF THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 



The Isles of Shoals fishermen in 1873.— Concerning the fishermen of these islands off 

 the coast of New Hampshire, Celia Thaxter, in 1S73, wrote: 



"They lead a life of the greatest hardship and exposure, during the winter especially, setting 

 their trawls la or 20 miles to the eastward of the islands, drawing them next day if the stormy 

 winds and waves will permit, and takiug the fish to Portsmouth to sell. It is desperately hard 

 work, trawling at this season, with the bitter wind blowing in their teeth and the flying spray 

 freezing upon everything it touches — boats, masts, sails, decks, clothes completely cased in ice, and 

 fish frozen solid as soon as taken from the water. The inborn politeness of these fishermen to 

 stranger women is something delightful to witness. I remember once landing in Portsmouth and 

 being obliged to cross three or four schooners just in (with their freight of frozen fish lying open- 

 mouthed in a solid mass on deck) to reach the wharf. No courtly gentlemen could have displayed 

 more beautiful behavior than did these rough fellows, all pressing forward with real grace — because 

 the feeling which prompted them was a true and lofty feeling — to help me over the tangle of ropes 

 and sails and anchors to a safe footing on shore. 



"Very few accidents happen, however: the islanders are a cautious people. Years ago, when 

 the white sails of their little fleet of whale-boats used to flutter out of the sheltered bight aud stand 

 out to the fishing grounds in the bay, how many eyes followed them iu the early light aud watched 

 them in the distance through the day, till, toward sunset, they spread their wings to fly back with 

 the evening wind! How pathetic the gathering of women on the headlands when out of the sky 

 swept the squall that sent the small boats staggering before it and blinded the eyes, already 

 drowned in tears, with sudden rain that hid sky and sea aud boats from their eager gaze! What 

 wringing of hands, what despairing cries, which the wild wind bore away while it caught and flut- 

 tered the homely draperies aud unfastened the locks of maid and mother to blow them about their 

 pale faces and anxious eyes ! Now no longer the little fleet goes forth, for the greater part of the 



