Joseph C. Lincoln

The Golden Boys

Three retired sea captains living together in genteel squalor. They scheme to improve their fortunes by having one of them solicit a bride through an ad in a Boston newspaper. The loser of a coin toss must get married and take in the other two as boarders. But upon the arrival of the Nantucket woman selected from the applicants, the captains get cold feet.

Rugged Water

After years of service, the Captain of the Setuckit Life Saving Station on Cape Cod retires, Calvin Homer, the second in command, Calvin Homer expects to be promoted; but the appointment goes instead to Bartlett, a religious fanatic who has been the recipient of a good deal of favorable newspaper publicity. Calvin hands in his resignation.

Idle Tongues

After serving 5 years in prison for embezzling church funds, Dr. Ephraim Nye returns to Ostable and the scornful gossip of its residents, led by Althea Bemis. There is a typhoid epidemic, and Dr. Nye believes it to be caused by the water in a pond that Judge Copeland, the brother of Dr. Nye's dead wife, Fanny, wishes to use as the source of municipal water supply. Only Katherine Minot supports Dr. Nye, but biologists prove him correct; and Dr. Nye confronts Copeland with proof that he went to prison to protect Fanny, the actual criminal. Copeland finally consents to the marriage of his daughter, Faith, to Tom Stone, the son of his enemy; and Katherine spreads the news of her engagement to Dr. Nye through Althea.

Partners of the Tide

The Allen spinsters adopt Bradley Nickerson, who grows up with Gussie Baker, the little girl next door. Fifteen years later he is first mate of the Thomas Doane, owned by Granny Baker. A plot to sink the ship is averted by Bradley and a sailor, but ultimately the ship is sabotaged.