202 THE FACE OF THE FIELDS 



good living. A living for him and clams for us ; 

 and not the long-neck clams of the Providence 

 River and Duxbury flats only : they shall yield 

 also the little-neck clams and the quahaug, the 

 scallop, too, the oyster, and, from farther offshore, 

 the green-clawed lobster in abundance, and of a 

 length the law allows. 



Our children's children may run short of coal 

 and kerosene; but they need never want for 

 clams. We are going to try to save them some 

 coal, for there are mighty bins of it still in the 

 earth, while here, besides, are the peat-bogs — 

 bunkers of fuel beyond the fires of our imagin- 

 ations to burn up. We may, who knows? save 

 them a little kerosene. No one has measured the 

 capacity of the tank ; it has been tapped only 

 here and there ; the plant that manufactured it, 

 moreover, is still in operation, and is doubtless 

 making more. But whether so or not, we still 

 may trust in future oil, for the saving spirit of 

 our new movement watches the pipes that carry 

 it to our cans. There is no brand of economy 

 known to us at present that is more assuring than 

 our kerosene economy. The Standard Oil Com- 

 pany, begotten by Destiny, it would seem, as dis- 



