94 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



ice hurt 'em , and then the bliz- 

 zard made the water so cold that the 



critters all died. You wont see a crab here 



this summer." 



But it seems that the crab crop is somewhat 

 like the peach crop. The regular spring an- 

 nouncement to the effect that every peach-bud 

 in the country has been nipped by the frost is 

 hailed with joy by every lover of peaches, who 

 then feels sure that a fair crop can be counted 

 upon. The blizzard may have done many 

 things; it certainly did not kill all the crabs. 

 It knocked down the docks of the neighbor- 

 hood, and put back the spring about a fortnight ; 

 it did all sorts of damage to chimneys, roofs, 

 and fences. But it did not kill the crabs, and it 

 gave an inexhaustible topic of conversation to 

 the gentry who gather around the store-stove 

 six nights out of the seven to settle the affairs 

 of the nation, if talk can settle them. If the 

 fish did not bite ; if the summer was windy and 

 cold which it was ; if the surf was dangerous, 

 the apple crop poor, and the potatoes rotten, 

 the fault was laid to the blizzard, that awful 

 visitation, when, as the Cap'n says, " New York 

 did n't hear from us for more than a week." 



