Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1876-07-28
The Social Quicksand.

| VlcCO hugo gives Jhe following graphic
description
ut sometimes happens, on certain coasts
OF Brittany or Scotland, that man, tray
eler OF fisherman, walking on the beach at
low tide, far from the bank, suddenly
noticed that for several minutes he has
been walking with some difficulty. The
strand beneath his feet is like pitch; his
Soles stick to it; it is sand no longer-it is
glue.
"The beach is perfectly dry, but at eve
ny step lie takes, as soon as he lifts his foot
the print which it leaves fills with water.
( The eye, however, has noticed no change
| the immense strand is smooth and tran
| gull !; all the sand has the same appearance;
| nothing distinguishes the surface which is
solid from that which is no longer so; the
joyous little cloud of sand-heas continue to
leap unanimously over the wayfarer's feet.
The man pursues his way, goes forward,
incIines to the land, endeayors to get near-
er the upland. He. is not anxious. Anxi-
Gus about what? Only he feels somehow
as If the weight of his feet increases with
every step he takes. Suddenly he sinks
in.
HE sinks in two or three inches. Deci-
d3dly he is not on the right road; he stops
to- take his bearings. All at once he looks
at his feet. His feet have disappeared.
The sand covers them. He draws his feet
out of the sand he Will retrace his steps /;
lie turns back; he sinks in deeper. The
sand comes up to his ankles he pulls him
self out and throws himself to the left;
the sand is half.leg deep. He throws him.
self to the right; the sand comes up to his
shins. Then he recognizes with unspeaka-
able terror that he is caught in a quick
sand, and that he has beneath him the.
fearful medium in which man can no more
walk than the fish can swim. He throws
off his load, il he has one, lightens himself
like a ship in distress; it is already too
late; the sand is above his knees. He calls,
ne waves his hat or his handkerchief; the
sand gains ON him more and more. If the
beach is deserted, if the land is too far off,
if there is no help in sight, it is all over.
she is condemned to- that appalling bu-
rial long, infallable, implacable, impossi-
lble to slacken OF to hasten, which endures
fer hours, which seizes you erect, free and
in full health, which draws you by the
feet, which at every effort that you at
tempt, at every shout you utter, drags you
"a little deeper, sinking you slowly into the
earth while you look upon the horizon, the
sails of the ships upon the sea, the birds
flying and singing, the sunshine and the
sky. The victim attempts to sit down, to
lie down, to creep; every movement he
makes inters him; he straightens up, he
sinks in, he feels that he is being swallow
ed. He bowls. implores, cries to the clouQs,
'despairs,
''Behold him waist deep in the sand
The sand reaches his breast he is now on
-ly bust. He raises his arm, utters furious
:groans, clutches the beach with his nails,
would hold by that straw, leans upon his
elbows to pull himself out of this soft
sheath, sobs frenziedly the sand rises.
The sand reaches his neck; the face alone
is visible now. The mouth cries, the sand
fills it; silence. The eyes still gaze, the
sand shuts them; night. Now the fore.
head decreases, little hair autters above
the sand :; a hand comes to the surface of
the beach, moves, and shakes, and disap-
pears. 1t is the earth drowning man. The
earth filled with the ocean becomes trap.
1t presents itself like plain and opens
like wave.''
Could anything more graphically de-
scribe the progress of a young man, from
the first cup OF wine to the last.