PEA PATCH ISLAND

There is a Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River, and Curren here retells the ""legend"" she heard from her grandmother about how it came to be. She begins with a big ship, on its way to market with a cargo of peas, ""sailing down a wide river/ on a pretty day/ a long time ago."" Then the ship runs aground on a sand bar, the crew bails out (the brave captain jumps ""at the very last minute""), and down sinks the ship to the bottom of the river. That's all till next summer when a child discovers a pea patch in the middle of the river. . . ""And so the patch of peas grew bigger. . . . And that's how an island grew from those peas that sank in that river on a pretty day a long time ago."" It's a pale sort of legend, even though Himler's pastel colored period settings make it' pretty enough.