458 



RECREATION 



bottom" oysters from their bed with long 

 tongs, but if he wishes "nock oysters," which 

 "grow on solid rock out in the ocean, he goes 

 at low tide and chops them by the bushel 

 from the rock — delicious and fresh as the 

 dew of the morning. And fish — how endless 

 their variety — how easily obtained by the 

 bachelor-man ! When he wishes fish, he may 

 take his lines and haul in in a half-day a 

 string of fish long enough to reach over his 

 shoulder and drag the ground behind him, 

 or he may go out with his young neighbors 

 any time when the tide is coming in, and 

 bring in with a mighty seine, in two hours' 

 time, a thousand trout, mackerel, kelp, perch, 

 rock cod, etc. 



He may go out with the "boys" at night in 

 a boat, whose ends are hung with wire bas- 

 kets filled with burning resin and pine chips 

 to illuminate the water, to spear flounders — 

 those flat, wedge-shaped fish monstrosities. 

 and bring in as many as the boat will bear 

 up. 



In April, when the ten-pound mullet strikes 

 out for the head waters of the rivers, by 

 thousands, and the Indian, as has been his 

 custom from time immemorial dries vast 

 quantities of them for his use the remainder 

 of the year — dressing them and hanging them 

 on long poles to dry in the sun, the bache- 

 lor-man may do likewise. 



In the summer and autumn, when the 

 "run" of salmon is "on," and the bays and 

 rivers are alive with them, and the canneries 

 are "running at full blast," he may go. out at 

 night with the salmon fishers for the famous 

 Chinook salmon, unequalled by any other 

 fish in the world for its richness and delicacy 

 of flavor. At the salmon canneries, hun- 

 dreds of tons of salmon eggs are thrown into 

 the bay as useless, and the heads of the fish 

 would be likewise cast away, were it not for 

 the Indian, who carries them off.. The bach- 

 elor-man, too lazy to catch his own fish, can 

 follow the example of "Lo" if he likes .in 

 getting fish eggs or heads for his table, or, 

 if he can show ten cents, he can buy a twenty- 

 pound salmon of finest quality for that sum 

 — even the year 'round — since the fish dealers 

 salt away many barrels for use in the months 

 the fish are not caught. 



"If he grows tired of fish in its every form, 

 he may look out over the bay whereon sea- 

 gulls, shags, cranes, loons, ducks, wild geese, 

 and other water-fowls disport, and the crack 

 of his rifle will secure him gulls for his dogs, 

 and ducks and geese for his own table. 



He may take his gun in the forest tangles — 

 impenetrable save to the forest denizen, ex- 

 cept for the trails, and come back with quail, 

 grouse, and Chinese pheasants, for his dinner- 

 oven. He may go out with his dogs and 

 bring in at one time, a half-dozen 'coons, 

 which make good meat for his several days' 

 supper-pot. 



He may kill five deer in a season if he 



wishes, in the forest only a quarter of a 

 mile from his door, and dry venison to his 

 heart's content ; he may go in the autumn 

 (when bruin is fat on berries) with his 

 friends on a bear hunt, and when the excite- 

 ment is over, find himself back at his castle 

 with a quarter of bear's meat hanging in his 

 larder. 



In this land where a pleasant rain falls 

 every day for six months, the raising of 

 vegetables is an easy matter, but if the bach- 

 elor-man has not the time nor inclination for 

 a garden, he may buy an Irish potato fin 

 Coast vernacular, a "spud"), a foot long and 

 five inches through, for a penny the pound, 

 from some aged and widowed squaw who 

 lives in a hovel by the sea, without com- 

 panions or friends, save her pipe and her 

 twenty-seven dogs. At the near village gro- 

 cery he may get flour from the finest wheat 

 in the world (grown in the Willamette Val- 

 ley), prunes at four cents the pound, grown 

 by a swarthy son of sunny Italy, in the 

 county near; apples four inches across, 

 grown in orchards of Norse emigrants, as 

 cheap as excellent, and "wild fruit," free as 

 water. 



On the stretches of the beach, strawberries, 

 gratefully fresh and sweet grow in hundred- 

 acre patches ; in the woods the "salmon" and 

 the "thimble" berry (very like red raspber- 

 ries) are most plenteous ; deliciously-flavored 

 huckle-berries grow on bushes as high as 

 men, and on thirty-foot vines, many of which 

 rlimb to the tops of small trees, the ever- 

 bearing blackberry ripens well nigh the year 

 'round. 



If the bachelor- iran is ignorant of the cook- 

 ing art when first he sets his foot, a stranger, 

 on the ocean's edge, he quickly learns from 

 the other friendly bachelors around how to 

 prepare his food. He learns to bake plump 

 ducks and fat geese, and to "stuff" them 

 with crumbs of whole wheat bread, onions, 

 sage, or to make rich and delicate soups of 

 these same water-fowl ; he learns to cook 

 crabs in sea-water, to flavor them with spices 

 and pepper, to make dishes of crab and eggs, 

 of crab and cheese, crab toast, and crab 

 plan? ; he learns to cook fish in every known 

 way, whether baked, boiled, fried, or roasted 

 over a fire. He learns to prepare oyster 

 soup, and pigeon-pie, and bread whose crust 

 is as brown as a Klickatat Indian's cheek. 

 whose heart is as white as the soul of a 

 babe, whose texture is so light that the bach- 

 elor-man holds his breath when he takes it 

 from the oven, that it may not be wafted 

 awav! 



A QUESTION. 



BY IRENE POMEROY SHIELDS. 



And now, kind entomologist, 

 I pray you tell me why 



A fly found in the butter 

 Is not a butter-fly? 



