1 66 "Dead Trees Love the Fire" 



laborers undertook to cut down half-a-dozen 

 small pines and saw their gnarled limbs into 

 suitable pieces for the fire. It was hot work, 

 and it made it hotter to think of the blaze that 

 we were preparing for. To quote Thoreau 

 again, he used to say that he got more warmth 

 out of cutting his firewood than out of its blaze, 

 and his conscience was never quite easy as to 

 the return he made for the blessings of a log 

 fire. He used to say that though he had paid 

 money to the owner of that wood, he was never 

 quite sure that the debt had been wholly dis- 

 charged. In two hours we had done enough 

 of our work to see that with a little sawing 

 after dinner there would be sufficient to load 

 up the boat, and then after a short rest we be- 

 gan to prepare for dinner. Whoever wants to 

 know what clams are worth must cook them 

 on the shore, and with driftwood picked up 

 for the purpose. I have tried a clam-bake in 

 our garden, I have tried it on the kitchen stove, 

 but whether the difference is in the clams or in 

 our appetites, the result is never the same. It 

 is the easiest thing in the world to bake clams 

 to perfection, if a few simple rules are observed. 



