Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-07-17
THE LEVEL OF THE SEA.


VIZ tFHsfs
Prom the Washington Post.
There is n quaint little phrase,
which turks for the most part between
the covers of Biographies. 1t comes
III among the length OF rivers and the
height Of mountains like sclah in the
psalms. 1t was easy to remember, be-
cause it came 80 often, but it was very
vague of meaning, and many child
cursed with vivid Imagination has
wondered what might be meant by
the "lcvcl of the SEA The same fancy
that pictured the wonderful tides
stalking like giants sixty feet high up
the Bay of Fundy, saw the sea laid
out in n green blue level to the horizon,
with all the mountains with unpro.
nouncablc names rising from it in ter
races and cones. Half the wonder
and the curiosity of childhood lingcrs
about the ocean ; the murmur OF the
waves in crim,ou.hcartcd shells held
close to listening ears j. promise to
them that some time they shall see the
iar-oH sea. And 80 it happens that
when they are grown up, and live in
cities, and the midsummer heats come
on, and the annual vacation come.
round, half the world finds itself mt
the level Of the sea. When Lc con
tincnts were rent in twain, there was
left this long, ragged eastern edge,
with its thousand jutting points, aud
it, thousand bays holding in their
curves OF warm white sand, whole
summers full of sunshine and blue
water. This city by the sea trail.
from Maine to Florida it j. all lon.
gitudc and no latitude The news.
paper correspondent who takes it,
summer census, finds it, inhabitants
dwelling in many verandahcd hotels
all a-ilu,tcr with flag. and awning
Or. lc-s grcgarious in their tastes, they
seek the scclusion that n cottage grants,
or they pitch their tent on the beach
and are Herewith content. They 20
down to the sea in ships. They take the
surf in bathiug.drcsscs which, the
fashion letters tell rs, are prciiicr this
year than ever before. They watch
the long lift of the breaker a it curve.
to it, fall. They 90 out sailing on
still afternoons, and get bccalmed and
wait for some vagrant breeze TO come
out of the heavens and take them
home.
How the blue Atlantic is storming
Mt. Desert with its incoming tide this
morning! All down the coast how
the surf is beating, and the sun is
shining, and happy-hearted people are
gaining health OF body and brain.
They come back year after year to
the old familiar places, as birds come
back to last years nests. They gath.
or shells at low tide, and press sea-
weed for herbariums. They take deep.
sea soundings and learn the time Of
the tides and float and swim and
row and sail, and coming back in
September, brown and happy, they
meet the people who have spent their
summer somewhere else. For the
world is wide, and everybody does
not 90 TO the shore. There are pill
grims who go back, each succeeding
summer to the White Sulphur Springs,
like pilgrims to a shrine. There are
tourists who take for their grand OBJ
jectivc point OF summer travel the
zenith city Of the unsalted seas, and
watch the sunsets flush and fade over
Lake Superior. There are. people
whom the mountain glory shadows
like a cloud, the strength of the hills
draws them like n magnet and they
cannot choose but come. Every in
land lake and river has its summer
devotees, who firmly believe that they
have found the true Arcadia. Across
green pastures the long afternoon
shadows fall, and on still waters floats
the white wonder of the water lily.
They 20 down the ST. Lawrence,
through that long, breathless rush of
the Long Sault. They linger about
Lake George and the Adirondacks
till the leaves begin to fall.
But, after all, there is nothing like
the ocean. Sooner or later we come
back TO that, finding charm that
no one can resist or forget. This
ancient mariner has an unending
story to tell; with resistlcss fascina-
ton he holds each wedding guest.
And that is why these summer days
find the world at the level of the sea.