Birth control and Matinicus...

Yesterday's Chicago Tribune carried an article on a tiny island of lobstermen and crabmen twenty-five miles off the coast of Maine called Matinicus. The piece explained that the island's population peaked at 270 souls in the late 19th century when "Birth control was unknown and children, the principal crop."

Presently, Manicus has a year-round population of twenty-five or so, and the elementary school has one student.