TABLE OF CONTENTS. Chapter II-Sea Yarns and Sayings. Chapter IV-Anecdotes of the Quakers. Chapter V-Some Nantucket Traits. Chapter VI-Local "Characters." Chapter VII-Burying Ground Aftermath. Chapter VIII-Miscellaneous Scraps. Chapter IX-Twentieth Century Anecdotes. Foreword. T has long been the wish of all those who are in terested in Nantucket's past that some of the many good stories and anecdotes of the place and its people, as well as some of the quaint and characteristic sayings and idioms of the islanders, might be collected, arranged and preserved in some permanent form. The publication of this book came about in a rather curious way. Each of the two compilers, largely as a labor of love, had long been collecting material of this nature, with no very definite purpose in view other than a vague hope that, at some time and in some way, the collection might perhaps be printed. In the fall of 1915 the one who resides at Nantucket wrote to the other in Boston that he was making such a collection, and asking that he might have access to the " Scrap Basket, which has long been a feature of the reunions of the Sons and Daughters of Nantucket, held in Boston each autumn for the past twenty-odd years. After some little correspondence it was mutually agreed that the two should collaborate in the preparation of a volume, which, using the material contributed to the Scrap Basket since its inception, as a nucleus, should be published for the benefit of the Sons and Daughters, under the title of "The Nantuck et Scrap Basket.' The compilers have no apology to offer for the result, but a few words of explanation may not be amiss. First, we recognize that the collection is far from complete. The field is unlimited, and if every "scrap" it would be possible to obtain were included, the first old-time Nantucketer who read the book would be reminded of many others which the compilers had overlooked or had never heard of. No attempt has been made, therefore, to cover all the ground. On the contrary, the mass of available material has been carefully sifted with the idea of eliminating much that, for one reason or another, it was thought best not to use. We admit that the sieve was of a rather large mesh, and that much went_through. Other compilers might have put in much that we We have used our best left out much that we put in or have left out-either or both. judgment, having in mind the limitations of time, space and expense. But the result is not final. A scrap basket is never full; it may be added to or subtracted from, and if the work meets with the approval and the sale which, in our more sanguine moments, we hope for it, future editions may contain many of the stories of which some of those in this book may remind its readers. We earnestly solicit such contributions for preservation and future use if opportunity offers. To many Nantucketers we know that most of these stories are far from new. Many have heard them from childhood, till, by frequent repetition and long familiarity, they have lost point and become "chestnuts."' To such we extend our sympathy, only hoping we may |