[This essay was put together after Emerson's death from a number of commencement and similar addresses he had made. It appears in The Complete Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, edited by Edward Emerson].
Freshly shucked oysters can be immersed in water and placed in shallow, air-tight containers in the freezer. Freezer temperatures should be below zero degrees Fahrenheit. Oysters can be frozen for up to three months.
not more than a day or two, in any case. And keep them sitting above a bowl of ice water in the fridge. The key here being, do not store them on or in ice, unless it's seawater ice--if they sink into freshwater, they'll die. But see my reply below, oysters, if properly stored will last longer than a day or two.