Anne Molloy, author of numerous books for young readers, and the second woman ever to serve on the Board of Directors of the Portsmouth Atheneaum, tells the story of Celia Laighton Thaxter's early life in this charming book.
"Don't catch a crab, don't catch a crab, was the message of Celia's oars in the thole pins as she crossed from her island to Gosport Harbor. The leather of the heavy dory oars creaked it, and the squeak of the thole pins in thier holes joined in the rhythmic warning. Celia kept her mind on rowing so completely she hadn't noticed other voices and other warnings. She was rowing as if the dory and its oars were a part of her. Her strokes were smooth and there was a steady boil of water at the bow. Gradully she heard another sound. It was the smack of rising wind on the face of the water. She looked up without breaking the rhythm of her strokes and saw dark clouds scudding over the gray sky. They carried along beneath them a gray curtain that shut out the horizon. It blurred the sails of a lumber schooner far away. Then with a whisper the curtain swooped toward Celia and the dory." (p. 165)
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