By the Sea

THE CONTRIBUTORS’ CLUB.

THE variety of weather to be had in twenty-four hours by the sea is truly amazing to one inland bred. I have prided myself on a little weather-wisdom in my own country, but here on the sea-coast it goes for nothing. On days when the wind is shifting, it hurries from one point of the compass to the opposite point with a suddenness that disconcerts an inland mind, and throws one out of one’s calculations tor the day’s occupations ; for by the sea more than anywhere else, one’s amusements depend upon the weather. If the breeze be from land and the air warm, the bathers find the water too cold for comfort, and vice versa. A yacht may sail with a wind from almost any quarter, but there must be enough of it and it must hold steadily. Even if one has no special plans to be affected, the weather still counts. To-day perhaps begins with a west wind and a clouded but clearing sky. On the sandy beach the sun is hot and the air soft, and in the shade of the wooden pavilion I am comfortable ; but in a moment the breeze shifts, as swiftly as lightning flashes, and blows as from off an iceberg. Two moments later a seafog has come up, blotting out more distant objects and blurring those at hand ; the raw air penetrates to my very bones ; and I, prepared for a dolce far niente morning, disgustedly fold my beach chair and collect my “ traps” for retreat. Yet a very short distance away from the beach the atmosphere is clear and the air warm.

One must have a genuine passion for the sea to enjoy a prolonged stay by it. Nowhere else is bad weather more dreary and unendurable, except on shipboard. On fine days, with a stiff seabreeze, when under a clear sky the horizon widens, to sit on the sand is almost the same as being on the steamship’s deck. There is the same tonic in the air, the same exhilaration in the broad bright ocean view, and a deal more steadiness. In places where fashion does not resort, life is almost as monotonous as on board a steamer, and the smallest events become interesting; and in a little place, where are no big hotels or crowds, one gets to know by sight the companions of one’s monotony, and to expect their daily appearance, as the ocean-voyager does that of his fellowpassengers.

In both situations I find myself equally disinclined to get rid of time with a book. It seems to be an occupation merely to feel the cool wind blowing over me, to lie with shut eyes and hear, without listening to it. the breaker’s rush and fall. Yet it is a pity if, in that soothed and dozing condition, one misses the sight of the fish-hawk overhead, sweeping along with his wonderful eyes keen set for his prey. Of all the fish, flesh, and fowl that inhabit the earth, I believe I should choose to be this bird, if I wished to live a life, not of usefulness to my superior, man, but of selfregarding ease and pleasure. At home, one may say, in two elements, who would not be a fish-hawk, so free, so strong, fearless of all other creatures save his one foe the eagle ? The eagle alone is his match in strength and also in craft. The hawk flying home with his food plucked from the sea is watched by the eagle, who proposes to save himself the trouble of hunting up a meal. Thereupon he puts on the aspect of war, and sallies forth, with fierce claws outstretched, to intercept the hawk ; and he, beholding his redoubtable enemy, prepares for flight and drops the fish from his hold. This is all the wily eagle wants, and with a sudden downward throw he casts himself upon his back beneath the falling fish, and catching it in his upturned claws rights himself and sails off in triumph. The ways of the lower animals are truly curious! Think of the sea-gull knowing enough, when he has secured his dinner of clams, to break their hard shells by going up in the air and letting them fall on a rock, or even on hard sand ! Farmer folk living near the coast believe that the fish-hawk is useful in keeping off the chicken-hawk and other troublesome birds. Though fish is their chief diet, the hawks of the sea will feed on what stuff may be found thrown out about the farm-house, and they build their huge nests in trees near to men’s dwellings. The hawk’s flight is fascinating to follow, — such superb strength is in his wide wings, such ease in their use ! Going against the wind, he must beat with them and sometimes tack, as a yacht does with the wind ahead ; but before the wind, he simply spreads his canvas, and sails, slow or swift, circling with one wing raised and one depressed, or on a straight course with wings evenly outstretched.

Thoroughly to enjoy life by the sea, I have said, one must have that genuine passion for it which I do not myself share, though to some extent I understand and sympathize with it. In certain moods the sea fascinates ; it relieves an overburdened heart by seeming to voice the “ calm despair ” or the “ wild unrest” which the poet deems may be ‘“tenants of a single breast;” or again, it lifts the weight by imparting to the thought of life something of its own breadth and bounding buoyancy and the vigor of its blithe breezes.

and so the sea is melancholy or cheerful as we choose to find it. My own passion is rather for the hills, with their changeful beauty and tranquil influence. I love the green country, and do not mourn to turn to it away from the flat outlines and treeless blankness of coast scenery.