The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1884-07-23
+" All, THE PITY Or IT,
BY TIGHE HOPKINS.


|
Many years ago | made stay,
extending over period of mon tbs,
in small. obscure watering place
on the southeast coast. | had Just
finished my course as a student at
Guys Hospital, and, under the com
bined strain of severe and not over
pleasant work in the wards and dis
secting room, and of a sharp and
exhausting examination, my health
had given way. I was ordered to
take rest, and with it any mild form
of recreation that pleased me best,
and being at that time much strait
ened in pocket, and having no in
clination to tax the hospitality OF
friends, / went down alone to the
little seaside town of Southbeach. l
took small rooms in an unambitious
street from which, when the tide
was unusually high, / obtained an
uninterrupted view of about a half
dozen miles of sea. 1t was the mid
die of September, and the season
was waning. The place was crowd
ed and the visitors, of both sexes
and all ages, thronged the beach
from morn till dewy eve." AL
though without friends, acquaint-
ance or companions, | was not in
the least degree lonely. l entered
thoroughly into the life of the place
and took a lively interest in the
sports of the children on the sands /;
in the fiirtations, jealousies, little
quarrelings and peace-makings of
the young people of seventeen, twen-
tv and twenty-five in the confabs
of the aunts, mammas and grand
mammas, and in the discomforts
and trials, more or less stoically
borne, of the papas. As the month
closed in, the holiday population be-
gan rapidly to thin. The morning
train TO town was crowded each day
and the loiterers on the beach dwin-
died like the sheep of Wadsworth's
northern shepherd. The brass band
performed its last tune on the ter
race. and dissolved amid a crash of
big drum and cvmbals; the negro
minstrels washed their faces and re-
sumed conventional habiliments !;
the itinerant preacher disappeared
on the same morning that the DON
keys were driven off the cliff the
perambulators, which had obstruct-
ed the beach for fourteen weeks,
were hoisted on the luggage train:
and the bathing machines were
drawn far out of the wash of the
waves.
By-and-by the sands wore the
desolate look which the banks ofthe
Red Sea might have worn after the
morning of the humiliation of
Pharoah and his host /; and on such
days as were bright enough and
warm enough for an early dip had
the whole wide sea to myself; those
who like the seaside only as it APP
pears in mid July or August, when
the seasons brief fever is at its
height, will connect a sense of the
dismal with this description, but let
me hasten to say that for my part |
found nothing dismal or depressing
in the emptiness of the town, or the
barrenness of the shore. The little
place quickly settled down to the
life which it led during eight months
of the year, and this in its turn had
a gentle charm for me. l had feel
ing of importance as | walked
through the High street, the sole
remaining visitor, and on the beach
of an evening / had full liberty to
regard myself as new Alexander
Selkirk and to indulge imaginings
as l looked across the never ending
sea, THAT l was monarch of all I
surveyed" The barber began to
take a personal interest in me the
policeman would halt on his un-
eyentful beat to inquire kindly after
the effect of the new tonic | was
trying the tobacconist and station.
er, an ardent amateur sportsman,
took pains to cultivate in me an af-
fection for the turf, and the young
lady at the postoffice was never in a
hurry to retire behind the screen
after she had served me with shill-
ing's worth of postage stamps. II
had another set of friends along the
beach where the fishermen told me
yarns which, ignoring the too too
solid I" evidence of their apocryphal
character, accepted as unimpeach-
able gospel the post-guards unbent
so far as to touch their caps, and the
piermaster more than once invited
me into his snuggery at the end of
the pier, where he kept bottle or
two of double extra proof spirits, of
the existence of which the corst- |
guards above mentioned were dis
creetly ignorant. l had more friends
now, in short, than had when the
town was packed and the beach |
swarmed with visitors moreover,
being of solitary habit, l took pleas
ure in day-long rambles in the coun-
try which stretched away almost
from the waters edge, and amid
fields still verdant and hedges yet
teening with life and color, re-
newed the botanical pastimes ofboy-
hood.
A striking (indeed the most strik-
ing) feature of Southbeach was its
pier. 1t was an old, sturdy, wooden
structure, only a few yards short of
a mile in length, which had resist
ed wind and wave for nearly a hum
dred years. Rugged of aspect, its
height, length and massy build in
vested it with character almost of
grandeur and it gave one an idea
Of strength well-nigh invincible to
note the steadfastness of the piles /