Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1876-08-25
Selected S}(istellanp.
The Social Quicllsand.

iN'SA lug SlfSo lhS lOiloNihS
graphic description:
1t sometimes happens, on certain
coasts of Brittany or Scotland, that a
man, traveller or fisherman, walking on
the beach at low tide, far from the bank,
notices that for several minutes
he has been walking with some difficult
ty. The strand beneath his feet is like
pitch his soles stick to it; it is sand
no longer is glue.
"The beach is perfectly dry, but at
every step he 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 tranquil; all the sand has
the same appearance; nothing distin-
cuisines 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 bis way, goes forward,
inclines to the land .endcavors get nearer
the upland He is anxious. Anxious
about what? Only he feels somehow
as if the weight of his feet increases with
every step he takes Suddenly he
sinks in.
Gle sinks in two or three inches
Decidedly 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; he turns back !;
he sinks in deeper The sand comes
up to his ankles he pulls himself out
and throws himself 10 the left; the sand
comes up to his Sims Then he recog-
nizes with unspoakable terror that he is
caught in a quicksand, 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 Ike ship
in distress, it is already too late the
sand is above his knees. He calls, he
waves his hat or his handkerchief; the
sand gains on him more and more. II
the beach is deserted, if the land is too
far off, if there is no help in sight, it is
all over.
He is condemned to that appalling
burial, long, invaluable, implacable, inn
possible; to slacken or to hasten which
cndures for hours, which sezes you
erect, free ard in full health, which
draws you by the feet, which at every
effort that you attempt, at every shout
you utter, drags you little deedar, sink
ing You slowly into the earth while you
look upon the horizon, the sails Of the
ship upon the sen, 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 in
tars him he straightens up, he sinks in
be feels that he is being swallowed He
bowls, implores, cries to the clouds,
despairs
Behold him waist deep in the sand
The sand reaches his breast; he is now
only bust. lie raises his arm, utters
furious groana, cluthes the beach with
nails, would hold by that straw, leans
upon his elbows to pull himself out of
his soft sheath, sobs frenziedly; the
sand raises. The sand reaches his neck /;
the face alone is visible now. The
mouth cries, the sand fills it; silence
The eyes still gaze, the sands shuts them
night. Now the forehead decreases. a
little hair futters above the sand a hand
comes to the surface Of the beach,
moves aDd shakes, and disappears. II
is the earth drowning man. The earth
filled with the ocean becomes trap. It
presents itself like a plain and opens like
a wave"
Could anything more graphically de-
scribe the progress of young man,
from the first cup of wine to the last