SAND DUNES AND SALT MARSHES 



sand, which falling down reveals the white 

 clams. An amateur is sure to stick the fork 

 through the clams, or to break them in raking 

 them out, and to cut his fingers with the sharp 

 edges. With the expert the clams seem to 

 lead a charmed life, and escape intact into the 

 hand and thence into the coarse, shallow clam- 

 baskets, which are then soused up and down 

 in the salt water to free the clams from the 

 adhering sand. Nowadays the clammers 

 reach the flats in motor boats,— noisy and 

 vile-smelling,— which, sad to say, have all but 

 displaced the dories in which they formerly 

 rowed, or sailed if the wind was fair, to and 

 from their work. Occasionally the clammers 

 live in weather-beaten huts near the flats, and 

 take their spoil to the towns. One such clam- 

 mer lived a solitary life on the edge of the 

 dunes, varying his shell-fish diet with an occa- 

 sional sea-fowl. But alas ! he loved the bottle, 

 and one day his dory was found containing 

 clam-baskets and fork, but nothing was ever 

 heard or seen of him more. A clouded brain, 

 a misstep, the swirling tide, and the vast sea, 

 —it is a common fate and an all too common 

 cause. A few days after this a fortune of 

 great proportions to such simple folk was left 



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