m agreed and ready for suggestions," replied his wife.

"And I," said his daughter.

"Vi is, of course, since the proposition comes from her husband," Edward
remarked, with a sportive look at her; then glancing at his own little
wife: "and as I approve, Zoe will be equally ready with her consent."

"Have you any suggestion to offer, captain?" asked Mr. Dinsmore.

"I have, sir; and it is that we make the island of Nantucket our summer
resort for this year, dividing the time, if you like, between Nantucket
Town and the quaint little fishing village Siasconset, or 'Sconset, as
they call it for short. There is an odd little box of a cottage there
belonging to a friend of mine, a Captain Coffin, which I have partially
engaged until the first of September. It wouldn't hold nearly all of us,
but we may be able to rent another for the season, or we can pitch a
tent or two, and those who prefer it can take rooms, with or without
board, at the hotels or boarding-houses. What do you all say?" glancing
from his mother-in-law to his wife.

"It sounds very pleasant, captain," Elsie said; "but please tell us more
about it; I'm afraid I must acknowledge shameful ignorance of that
portion of my native land."

"A very small corner of the same, yet a decidedly interesting one,"
returned the captain; then went on to give a slight sketch of its
geography and history.

"It is about fifteen miles long, and averages four in width. Nantucket
Town is a beautiful, quaint old place; has some fine wide streets
and handsome residences, a great many narrow lanes running in all
directions, and many very odd-looking old houses, some of them
inhabited, but not a few empty; for of the ten thousand former residents
only about three thousand now remain."

"How does that happen, Levis?" asked Violet, as he paused for a moment.

"It used to be a great seat of the whale-fishery," he answered; "indeed,
that was the occupation of the vast majority of the men of the island;
but, as I presume you know, the whale-fishery has, for a number of
years, been declining, partly owing to the scarcity of whales, partly
to the discovery of coal-oil, which has been largely substituted for
whale-oil as an illuminant (as has gas also, by the way), and to
substitutes being found or invented for whale-bone also.

"So the Nantucketers lost their principal employment, and wandered off
to different parts of the country or the world in search of another; and
the wharves t