From O.Henry short story "The Harbinger":
The warble of the first robin in Hackensack, the stirring of the maple sap in Bennington, the budding of the pussy willows along Main Street in Syracuse, the first chirp of the bluebird, the swan song of the Blue Point, the annual tornado in St. Louis, the plaint of the peach pessimist from Pompton, N. J., the regular visit of the tame wild goose with a broken leg to the pond near Bilgewater Junction, the base attempt of the Drug Trust to boost the price of quinine foiled in the House by Congressman Jinks, the first tall poplar struck by lightning and the usual stunned picknickers who had taken refuge, the first crack of the ice jam in the Allegheny River, the finding of a violet in its mossy bed by the correspondent at Round Corners - these are the advance signs of the burgeoning season that are wired into the wise city, while the farmer sees nothing but winter upon his dreary fields.

The Blue Point oyster was named for Blue Point, Long Island in New York, where this exceptionally fine oyster was first discovered. The name is now generally used for any medium size Atlantic oyster eaten raw.


I'm not sure what "the swan song" refers to. There are
months in which eating shellfish is hazardous because
of microscopic organisms (dinoflagellates) that are very toxic, but I think that happens only in warm water later in the year.

Might he be saying "the end of oyster season"? I dunno... just a guess.

Dear Fiberbabe: I remember an old saw about avoiding months
with and "R" in them, but in those days nobody knew what
caused the trouble. O.Henry is talking about a seasonal
thing, but I'm still not sure what he meant. I'm searching
for "shellfish toxicity" but have a lot more to wade through.

these are the advance signs of the burgeoning season

I'm with CyberFiber on this one.

To me "swan song" means goodbye, not "Hello!"

right, but it's the end of the oyster season that ushers in the new season.

Dear etaoin: Please don't tantalize me. Give the beginning and ending month of the oyster season. I should think the
oyster season might start with spring high tides, which when they go out would give better access to oyster beds,
and the arrival of hot weather mark the end, because of its
incubating the dinoflagellites. Got a better theory?

well, I was only going on the paragraph itself, and what I felt it implied, however, I did find this, that I think, supports my(and fb's!) idea:
DNR Extends Oyster Season Two Weeks
Ice cover prevented watermen from working Annapolis, MD (February 18, 2000)--Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Secretary Sarah Taylor-Rogers, responding to a unanimous recommendation of the Tidal Fish Advisory Committee last night, has decided to issue a two-week extension of the commercial oyster season.

"Ice cover prevented many watermen from working for more than three weeks this winter," Secretary Taylor-Rogers said. "This two-week extension will give them an opportunity to make up for some of their losses. The State is committed to following a balanced path, ensuring a viable commercial fishery, while expanding the Bay's oyster population ten-fold over the next 10 years."

The commercial oyster season was scheduled to close on March 31, and will now remain open through April 14.

and a couple of other sites talk about a mid-fall beginning...

sounds to me like the end of oyster season welcomes in Spring.

Dear etaoin: I goofed about the "R" business. The months
with "R" are supposed to be OK. So Spring would be the end
of the oyster season. But the oysters would be rejoicing
because of gaining respite from harvest, not singing their
own funeral dirge. The Walrus and the Carpenter would be
the ones singing the blues .

singing their
own funeral dirge. The Walrus and the Carpenter would be
the ones singing the blues.

I think you got that right!

But the oysters would be rejoicing
because of gaining respite from harvest, not singing their
own funeral dirge.

yeah, but....O Henry is listing the 'markers of spring' that are known by a city person... a city dwellwer is person singing the 'swan song' for the oysters! One last party with a plate of blue points-- the last one of the season!

the list is of other 'markers' that are definately 'city markers' of spring.

the lame goose survives in a small town pond- there are plenty of children to feed him, and the neatly mowed grass of the park, the density of people means its unlikely there is a fox nearby.... this lame goose wouldn't survive in the country.

i think also the point is being made that city living, always thought of as hectic, is, in some ways, more leasured than country living (especially farm life!) and city folk have the time to see these small subtle sign of spring!

connie might enjoy shooning in the woods and wilds of MI-- i remember the beautiful white cap of mushroom that poked its head up in a planter (it was almost hidden by an evergreen tree in the planter) outside of the trump plaza.

i don't know if it was edible.. but i think perfect little white cap mushrooms are a far rarer find than mushroom found in the woods. the signs of nature, the signs of the change of season are different in the city.. and treasured all the more!

Amateurs harvesting wild mushrooms are in same class as Japanese gourmets eating fugu. Both may die suddenly.

You're right there Bill. My sis loves to go out looking for mushrooms with her tome in hand, comparing pictures.

She never eats any though, because the the description of the poisonous mushrooms always start with "this highly poisonous varity looks exactly like the edible ..."

One last party with a plate of blue points

I think you may have found the elusive idea, Helen.

I worked with a mycologist for about four years. He wouldn't eat any wild mushrooms. He knew of too many
experts who had poisoned themselves.

And I still think "swan song" was poor writing here, a mangled figure of speech at best. Maybe they should have
sung a requiem or farewell song instead.

And some mycophobes die from tainted chicken or beef and some in auto accidents.

One of my central tenets is to avoid risking something big
to win something small.

"swan song" was poor writing here, a mangled figure of speech at best. Maybe they should have sung a requiem or farewell song instead.

but what is a swan song but a requiem or farewell song?

the term comes from the believe (we now know it was a false one, but) the Mute Swans (one species of swans) only sang at the moment of their death (i suppose hunters heard them!)

there are trumpeter swans, and mute swans.. (and no doubt many varieties of swans--can't think of any, but i have seen photo's of them in the zoo) i don't think any of them have a special sound they make as they lay dying, but none the less, a swan song is still something i associate with death or at the very least a farewell.

Dear of troy: The swan song was to be sung by the creature that was dying. Let us hope that the blue point oystereaters were not singing because they were about to die.

Not a bad tenet, Bill. I'm just saying that playing the sure bet doesn't always work. Otherwise Vegas would still be a desert truck stop.

And I've heard that fugu is worth the risk.

The hypertrophy of Vegas just proves Barnum was right.
"There's one born every minute, and two to catch him."

Dr. Bill, we all gotta die of something. I only hunt morels, which are quite unique. I don't believe there has ever been a death caused by the consumption of morels. I could be wrong, but I have a mother who knows how to worry and she has never been worried by morels. There is only one other fungus that mimics the morel in my neck of the woods. It is commonly known as a false cap and has several very obvious differences that distinguish it from the morel. One, the color isn't quite right for a morel, two, the stem of the false cap is not hollow as is the morel stem, and three, the cap of the morel is attached to the stem while the false cap floats free. Actually, the more people that are afraid of finding and eating morels, the better as far as I'm concerned. The woods are being cut down and there are fewer of my "spots" available to harvest every year. I don't want more competition in harvesting.

Dear Consuelo: So long as you stick to the morels, you're
not taking an appreciable risk. The guys who got poisoned
were taking something else that had deadly look-alikes.
The guys who eat fugu are trying to prove their courage.
I'd rather be a live coward. Bill