First Lessons in Life 67 



laughter to tears, from joy to anger, and with 

 each breath speaks a new message. He 

 must listen. The boat compels him. 



The tides speak with authority and eternal 

 mystery. With never a break they ebb and 

 flow twice each day. He must know their 

 hours and plan his life in harmony with 

 them. The fish and crabs obey their laws. 

 He must know whether it will be ebb or 

 flood when he starts home from a day's out- 

 ing, or he will miss his supper. He must 

 figure the height of the tide to cross a bar 

 and get back to his channel, and must know 

 the hour of high water and low water, the 

 day he hauls out his craft to scrape her bot- 

 tom and paint her with copper. The tide is 

 his ship's railway and the beach his drydock. 

 He must study the humours of the tide and 

 interpret them. When the tides run unusu- 

 ally low he knows the wind is blowing strong 

 off shore outside and a storm is brewing 

 from the land. When the tide comes rush- 



