IN THE BEGINNING 



to me and said : " Now look here. You 're 

 gettin' to have quite a lot of guests, and that 

 makes quite a lot of slop, which you don't use, 

 an' that 's waste. Now Jerry Oakes has got a hog 

 that ain't fattenin' up as fast as he might, an' so 

 Jerry wants to make a trade with you. He says 

 he '11 weigh the hog now, an' then send him over 

 to the island, an' you can feed him on the slop 

 you're wastin', and when you leave at the end of 

 the season, we '11 weigh him again, send him back, 

 and Jerry '11 pay you six cents for every pound 

 he 's gained. Ain't that a fair trade ? " And 

 the hog came and waxed fat, and the ingenious 

 Yankee that engineered the " trade " got the 

 profits for his perquisites, as he deserved ; but 

 that was the first and last hog that ever took up 

 his residence on the island, the profit not being 

 sufficient to induce us to crave the society of his 

 kind again. 



Generally we have brought our household ser- 

 vants with us, supplementing the number, when 

 necessary, with people from the neighborhood. 

 Every year this has grown more difficult, as from 

 the increasing number of summer visitors there is 

 more work to do in the village and possibly 

 greater profit to be gained. Still, we have had 

 2 17 



