New-York tribune., 1874-05-22
SURE OR SHADE.

scenery, with Corydon turned into fisherman
and the woolly flOcks into scaly ones. They
were quite as entertaining as the "Town
"Eclognes" of young Bob SOuthey, pleasanter
than John Gays "Newgato PASTORAL" and
somewhat truer to nature than NlrgiPs
" gYhre, tn patule." These are the days in
which prospective pleasure seekers are bal
ancing between hay and seaweed, the lux
uriant meadows and the barren shore,
between sand and sun-burn, or, we
may say clans and potatoes. Jean
Paul said sadly in his old age:
Il have never seen the seal who have
"written so much about it." Alas how many
of us have seen it, though all through the
Summer our windows overlooked its morning
sheen, and though, twenty times within eye
shot. 1t has shifted from its silver sumDer to
a tumultuous and ragged ragel so true Is 1t,
that Nature is virginia. In all her great as
pects and will not be seen of those who seek
TO see her. We go to the shore, and with an
odd ouotation from Byron or Shakespeare we
call upon our souls to be inspired. Nothing
comes of it all save spurious raDtures, or per-
haps verses equally spurious. Ask Nature to
unyaiI her beauties, and she runs away in
fog of her own raising. She is always coy
except with old acquaintances, and her antlp-
athy TO being made show is ingincible. She
is familiar only with those who accept her
perfection as a matter of course, and plays all
manner of cOntemptuous tricks upon sight
seers prepense. Especially her ocean glores
are for those who will not presume upon
slight introduction, but who are content 10
wait until, in some sudden moment, wave
and coast the far off and tantalzing hOri-
zon, the restless and snow lecked plain,
the desolate wall of the great unloosed
gales-sight, sound, odor all surrender the
secret OF their combined beauty; while
the sun goes to rest in his pavilion OF
gold; while the lighthouses one by one reveal
their sentinel stars" and the little shore
birds twitter and scream good night" as the
shadows thicken. At such moment and in
simultaneously, the glory and the grandeur,
perhaps, may burst upon us as kind OF new
apocalypse, while our hearts sing songs which
are never heard, or we think thousand
thoughts which are never uttered. Pater-
familias who is boarding his tribe at an ex-
pensiye marine tavern will not understand us
any more than we should understand him if
he talked to us of corners and consOls.
II is a comfort to us to know that
his lovely daughters, making mer-
maidens of themselves at Long Branch or
Newport, will understand us perfectly. To be
sure theirs Is an admiration of the ocean which
manifests itself mainly in profuse utterance
of adjectives, and these are always to be sus-
pected. But worse things may be said of the
sea than "glorous,' "lovely," charming"
"subime" Exquisite" or - "nce!" Dear
young lady, do not be laughed out of your
pretty enthusiasms, for they are, we assure
you, immensely becoming! Tempt the waves,
if you will, in the prettiest of bathing suits,
for Jupiter carries eff no Europas now. Nor
can anything be more fascinating for piazza
small talk than little transcendentalism. If
the sea itself is an enigma, why not the talk
about it7
Inland has It's advantages, especially for
those who love absolute quiet, and who are
weary of the busy hum of men, and the
buster hum of women. 1t is true that we
cannot get altogether away from stupid and
garrulous and foolish folk, but the chance of
avoiding them is best in the country, unless
one chooses very lonely sea-sides indeed.
The rich, sensuous quiet of a moonlight even
ing in leafy June is unique in its impression
of opuent magnifcence and boundless re-
sources. A moment may come then in which
we haply forget the fret and weary
turmoil of our lives, and in a
dream of perfect repose escape from
the dull torture of unsatisfed thought from
the sense of our invincible folly and of the
fragmentary nature of our best work. In the
deep hush of such fortunate moments, when
even sound is suggestive Of silence, we may
for little while turn Sybarites, and thor
oughly relish the great feast of perfect rest
and of wisely indOlent dreams The quiet
stars will help us, or Dian still as when she
brooded over the sleeping beauties of the
Latmian boy. At such moment we can
understand why the Greeks loved death, and
the sounding symphonies Of human pride
and ambition become as irritating to us as
the unmusical noise of a district school
singing out of time and tune its evening
hymn The illusion is only for moment !;
noise is normal in the wOrld-else why did
Providence make human ears so lOngi From
these charming June evenings in the country
must we not go back to our abominable de-
vices from the softly yielding turf to the
stony streets 7-frOm leafy lanes and nesting
valleys to a wilderness of bad architecture
The reader will see how easy it is to slip into
the chronic nonsense of complaint. Happy
will he be who from shore or from country
shall bring to our everlasting Broadway the
invaluable secret Of being alone in a crowd.
In this age of bric-d-brdc, and of the worship
of Japapese and Chinese porcelain, who has not
yearned to read and understand the inscriptions
written over the cups, dishes, and vases from the