THE WELLFLEET OYSTERMAN. 
91 
and green beans, which had appeared to him to occupy 
the safest part of the hearth. But on comparing notes 
afterward, I told him that the buttermilk cake was par¬ 
ticularly exposed, and I saw how it suffered repeatedly, 
and therefore I avoided it; but he declared that, how¬ 
ever that might be, he witnessed that the apple-sauce 
was seriously injured, and had therefore declined that. 
After breakfast we looked at his clock, which was out 
of order, and oiled it with some “ hen’s grease,” for want 
of sweet oil, for he scarcely could believe that we were 
not tinkers or pedlers ; meanwhile he told a story about 
visions, which had reference to a crack in the clock-case 
made by frost one night. He was curious to know to 
what religious sect we belonged. He said that he had 
been to hear thirteen kinds of preaching in one month, 
when he was young, but he did not join any of them, — 
he stuck to his Bible. There was nothing like any of 
them in his Bible. While I was shaving in the next 
room, I heard him ask my companion to what sect he 
belonged, to which he answered: 
“ 0, I belong to the Universal Brotherhood.” 
‘‘ What’s that ? ” he asked, Sons o’ Temperance ? ” 
Finally, filling our pockets with doughnuts, which he 
was pleased to find that we called by the same name 
that he did, and paying for our entertainment, we took 
our departure; but he followed us out of doors, and 
made us tell him the names of the vegetables which he 
had raised from seeds that came out of the Franklin. 
They were cabbage, broccoli, and parsley. As I had 
asked him the names of so many things, he tried me in 
turn with all the plants which grew in his garden, both 
wild and cultivated. It was about half an acre, which 
he cultivated wholly himself. Besides the common gar- 
