THE CLAM FARM 211 



as a result we are already beginning to want 

 at least for clams. At this moment there are not 

 enough clams to go round, so that the market- 

 man sticks the end of a rubber hose into his tub 

 of dark, salty, fresh-shucked clams, and soaks 

 them ; soaks them with fresh water out of rusty 

 iron pipes, soaks them, and swells them, whitens 

 them, bloats them, sells them ghastly corpses, 

 husks, that we would fain fill our soup-bowls 

 with; for we are hungry, and must be fed, and 

 there are not enough of the unsoaked clams for 

 a bowl around. 



But there shall be. With the coming of the 

 clam farm there shall be clams enough, and oysters 

 and scallops ; for the whole mollusk industry, in 

 every flat and bar and cove of the country, shall 

 take to itself a new interest, and vastly larger pro- 

 portions. Then shall a measure of scallops be sold 

 for a quarter, and two measures of clams for a 

 quarter, and nothing, any more, be soaked. 



For there is nothing difficult about growing 

 clams, nothing half so difficult and expensive as 

 growing corn or cabbage. In fact, the clam farm 

 offers most remarkable opportunities, although the 

 bid, it must be confessed, is pretty plainly to one's 



