12 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



life insurance, and to put by something for the 

 day when oysters may be scarce or rheumatism 

 may get the best of him. For forty years he 

 has been following this life. He is not a pop- 

 ular man with his fellow-watermen, because 

 absolutely indifferent to the attractions of the 

 village grog-shop, and more fond of his family 

 than of gossip. His days are given to his gar- 

 den and his fishing ; his evenings to the study 

 of our county agricultural journal, which gives 

 him, in condensed form, the news of the world 

 as well as the latest directions as to planting 

 onions. 



Thinking about my neighbor who died the 

 other day, and my other neighbor who still 

 lives to catch fish and enjoy the sea breezes, I 

 can scarcely repress the desire to sympathize 

 deeply with the one who got so little out of 

 life. I know that such sympathy would be re- 

 ceived by his friends and fellow bank directors 

 with amazement. Was he not rich and respect- 

 ed ? Did he not die in harness ? What more 

 can a man want ? And if I timidly suggest 

 that there is a joy about lobster catching in an 

 October breeze, or even in oystering in Decem- 

 ber, far beyond the pleasure of making money 



