96 LAND OF THE LINGERING SNOW. 



of interest on the shore. The banana had a re- 

 markably rich flavor, thanks perhaps to its sea 

 bath. Twenty crows retreated down the beach 

 ahead of us. They live well and grow fat on the 

 harvest of death cast up by the waves. We left 

 the shore at the life-saving station where mortar 

 drill had just been performed. A man on a 

 mast set in the sand has the life line fired to 

 him, he hauls out the breeches-buoy, and an im- 

 aginary shipwrecked crew is sent ashore across 

 imaginary breakers. The station was as neat, 

 clean and shining as a flagship, and more com- 

 fortable by far than most New England farm- 

 houses. 



Later in the forenoon we drove for three 

 hours through Truro and South Truro, seeing 

 many quaint cottages ; dwarf apple orchards re- 

 minding me of Thoreau's description of them ; 

 a tide river in which a man was prodding at 

 random for eels and occasionally bringing one 

 out squirming on his trident ; thousands of pitch- 

 pine trees planted by hand in rows ; a sunny 

 hillside covered with oaks, checkerberry plants 

 and arbutus, the latter bearing the first flowers 

 of the year ; and a black snake dozing in the 

 sand by the wayside. He, being heavy with 

 winter slumber, was caught, measured, and found 

 to lie four feet four inches without stretching. 

 His teeth were long and sharp. Being given 



