The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1871-08-24
Sea Spray.
BY GAIL HAMILTON,

| AS lOT inc OCetl, lneIe is II great deal
to be said on both sides.
1t is sultry and oppressive at home, and
in your ears is q low roar which common
folks call the sound of the sea, but which
you better instructed in sea-lore by q sea-
taring ancestry. know to be the moaning
of the wicked one doomed to construct q
rope of sand. Sand enough he can easily
gather, and fashion it for his rope, but
when he fain would twist it. the treacher
Gus sand falls perpetually apart, and his
| labors have no end. Who wonders the
unhappy wretch means over his hopeless
task? But the low roar lures us seaward,
and with us
AS the rules require.
Two towels and il spoon,
and a hamper or two of hard bread, and
q few dozen eggs, and sweet corn, and
sugar and other such pro
| vender, which is supposed TO be sat.watcr-
proof, for we will camp out. Let New
port have its thousands. and Long Branch
its tens of thousands. mine be cot be
side the sea, and Byronic mingling with
| the universe, and & tasting of the sweets
of solitude.
Oh solitude, we no longer ask where
are the charms that sages have seen in
thy face. We only ask piteouSly. where
is thy face? This beach swarms with
people. Far off the white sea-sand is alive
with little black bugs creeping to and fro,
amphiblous, for they float in the fringe of
is oyerfowed with ephemeral picknckers
and every black crag is crested with hu-
manity. You must boil your corn with
r
and there is no such thing rs drowning
yourself, though you wish it us much as
Johnny Sands wished to save his wife, for
u dozen round balls bobbing up and down
on the waves about you. are the heads of
strong swimmers who would be sure to
dive and wrench you out by the hair OF
your head, if it would stay on. And
what Il dishevelled, dripping, forlon set
are the bathers coming up out Of the sea.
Oh my lovely ladies, you will be styl-
ish or nothing, and you talk dantily of
scallops and trimmings, and you fashion
bathing-suits as neatly rs ball dresses
but the saucy sea mocks ali our llnery,
and tosses up against our scarlet |pIen-
dor as Undevoutly as over the old tow
gown and horse blanket trock Of our non
Bazaar reading ncighbor. But in we 60
with Il leap and bound to begin with,
and come near tumbling head first into
Madrid, from not counting on the resist
ancc of the water. Ugh how cold it Is
and how indefati@able and irresistible
In the twinkling Of an eye all the conceit
is thwaclled out of you. The sea- will
stand no nonsense. 1t beats YOU about.
it knocks you down. 1t takes your breath
away. 1t streams into your ears. 1t
pours into your mouth. 1t rushes up
your nose. You are drowned and dead.
You try to swim, and down YOU 90 plump
to the coral grove and the mermaidens,
and up you scramble again-and strong
aims pull you one way. and the strong
sea thrashes you another way, and every
body is screaming all the while at the
top of his voice for pure excitement.
You leap, and it buoys you up-you walk
and it filings you down. You yield to it
and it hurls you shoreward with wild
spray tossing. You rush against it, and
it smites you merrily and cheerily, but
with the force of sledge-hammer.
50 you come out all dripping, and
drowned, and forlorn. Not . bit Of it.
Every nerve tingles with eXhileration.
Every drop Of blood is warm and alert. II
anybody wants q serpent strangled, OF u
world carried, here is an arm Of Hercules,
and here is q shoulder Of Atlas. But oh .
the salt in your hair! And oh the amount
ot water that flannel will absorb And
that is why You don't mind how many
rows Of trimming your bathing-lrcss has,
OF whether it is made OF liusey- -woolsey,
on lnoirc antique. Your ocean is Il great,
wild beast, that rends you and tosses you
without y particle of respect for your coat
Of many colors, and in its remorseless
clutch you think no more OF your ward
robe than did Livingstone in the lions
mouth. And when you come out never
Solomon in all his glory was arTaycd like
| one of you, no matter how you went in.
You can't get out at all, TIL you are wrung
out 50 dry, that rivulets of water do not
| trickle down at every step, and all your
| hair droops round your glowing face like
sea-weed round s,-boiled lobster-if one
may quote poetry with variations for the
| truths sake-and all grace is soppcd out
| of your buttons, and you walk home
ward, Tapping as you 60, and firm in the
| faith that you might rs well take the surL
| in u cotlee-bag as in purple and fine linen
| Who dare say that women are the slaves
| of fashion and show? Go to, now To
| Spa Beach, for instance, and see what
''objects" they are willing to make of
| themselves before angels and men tor the
sake of q little free, wild fun, Il little pure,
wholesome self-iorgetful excitement. And
when you are once more clothed, and in
your right mind and staring, like ''stout
Cortes, silent upon Il peak, in Daricn,' nj
the great ocean lying still and majestic be
low you, can you believe it is the same
sea that played such mad prunks yondcr 7
Beautiful and bitter sea, august, and
solemn sea, know you! Roll on, thou
deep and dark blue ocean, roll have
rolled with yon, and for all your stately
steppings, you can be as frisky Us Il
colt. Unfold your purple grandeur to
to the dazed beholder, be the highway Of
commerce, the divider OF nations, the
great untamed power of the world. \
little cord no bigger than my finger has
annihilated you, and as beverage, you
are more than disagreeable'