THE SORT OF LIFE WE LEAD. 3/ 



of the day, but it is not the sort of sport that 

 the average city man yearns for. The utili- 

 tarian part of it a very important part of it to 

 me, and in fact I view all my sports from a 

 utilitarian point of view certainly would not 

 impress the city man who rushes out of town 

 for two weeks of the year in order to get what 

 he calls recreation. Wood means good fires to 

 us, and good big fires are essential in our coun- 

 try home. I should say that we burn a cord of 

 wood in a fortnight, although the big fire is not 

 going all day ; in cold weather a small self- 

 feeding stove hidden by a screen keeps the 

 living-room comfortable. I suppose I might 

 say the same thing in regard to oystering. 

 The poet's friend who found nothing in the 

 primrose would certainly not enjoy oystering. 

 For my part, oystering is one of the pleasures 

 of the year. It is one of my sports that I rank 

 highest. I sail my own boat over to a part of 

 the bay which abounds in oysters, and, allow- 

 ing the sheet to run out, I can " tong away" on 

 deck, thro wing the oysters in their queer growths 

 to the children, who throw away the shell and 

 refuse, cutting the oysters apart, as they grow 

 mainly in bunches, and piling them up in the 



