The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-06-12
All THE PITY OF 1T.

Il
Many years ago 1 made stay, ex-
tending over a period of months, at 8
small, obscure watering place on the
southeast coast. 1 had just finished my
course as q student at Guys Hospital,
and. under the combined strain of Sc
we're and not over pleasant work in the
wards and disSecting room, and of a
sharp and exhausting examination, my
health had given way. was ordered
TO take rest. and with it any mild form
of recreation that pleased me best, and
being at that time much Straitened in
pocket. and having no inclination to
tax the hospitality of friends, l went
down alone TO the little seaside town of
Southbeach. | took small rooms in an
Unambitious street, from which, when
the tide was unusually high, obtained
an uninterrupted view of about q dozen
yards of sea. 1t was the middle of
September, and the season was waning.
The place was crowded, and the vis-
itors. of both sexes and all ages,
thronged the beach ''from morn till
dewy eve." Although without friends,
acquaintance or companions, / was not
in the least degree lonely. entered
thoroughly into the life of the place,
and took lively interest in the sports
of the children on the sands; in the
fiirtations. jealousies and little quarrel
ings and peace-makingS of the young
people of seventeen, twenty and twenty
two; in the confabs of the aunts, NAM
mas and grandmammas; and in the
n A.
stoically borne, of the papas. As the
month closed in the holiday population
began rapidly to thin. The morning
train to town was crowded each day;
. and the loiterers on the beach dwindled
like the sheep of Wordsworth's north
ern shepherd. The brass band per-
formed its last tune on the terrace,
and dissolved amid a crash of bio
drum and cymbals; the negro min
Strels washed their faces and re-
sumed conventional habiliments; the
1tinerant preacher disappeared on
the same morning that the donkeys
were driven off the cliff; the perambu-
1ators, which had obstructed the beach
for fourteen weeks, were hoisted on the
luggage train; and the bathing ma
chimes were drawn far out of the wash
OF the waves. By and by the sands wore
the desolate look which the banks of the
Red Sea might have worn on the morn
ing after the annihilation of Pharaoh
and his host; and on such days as were
bright enough and warm enough for an
early dip I had the whole wide sea to
myself. Those who like the seaside
only as it appears in mid July or Au-
gust, when the seasons brief fever is at
its height, will connect sense of the
dismal with this descriptions; but let
me hasten to say that for my part
found nothing dismal or depressing in
the emptiness of the town or the bar
renneSs 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 gentle charm
for me. L had feeling of Importance
asI walked through the Eigh Street,
the sole remaining visitor, and on the
beach of an evening had full liberty
TO regard myself as a new Alexander
Selkirk. and TO indulge imaginings as
i looked across the never ending sea
-'that was monarch of all L surveyed"
The barber began to take personal in
terest in me; the policeman would halt
on his uneventful beat to inquire kindly
after the effect of the new tonic l was
trying; the tobacconiSt and stationer,
an ardent amateur sportsman, took
pains to cuitivave in me an affection
for the turf. and the young lady at the
postoflice was never in hurry TO retire
behind the screen after she had served
me with q shilling's worth of postage
stamps. l had another set of friends
along the beach. where the fishermen
told me yarns which, ignoring the "too,
too solid evidences of their apOcryphal
character. L accepted as unimpeachable
gospel tho coast guards unbent so far
rs to touch their caps; and the pier
.mastcr more than once invited me into
his snuggefy at the end of the pier,
where he kept bottle or two of double
extra proof spirits, of the existence of
which the coast guards above men
toned were discreetly ignorant. had
more friends now, in short, than had
when the town was packed and the beach
swarmed with visitors; moreover, being
OF solitary babit, L took pleasure in
daylong rambles in the country which
stretched away almost from the waters
edge, and amid fields still yerdant and
hedges yet teeming with life and color,
L renewed the botanical pastimes of
boyhood.
A striking (indeed the most striking)
feature of -Southbeach was its pier. It
was an old. sturdy wooden structure.
only few yards short of q mile in
length. which had resisted wind and
wave for nearly a hundred wears.
Rugged of aspect, its height, length and
massy build invested it with character
almost Of grandeur; and it gave one an
Idea OF strength well-nigh inyincible to
note the stesdfastness of the piles when
the waves rushed against them, and the
storm winds smote them with q giants
blows. In all weathers and at all times
l found the pier delightful promenade.
1t was restful and quieting beyond ex-
preston to sit there on still after
ooon-
What time the splendor of the setting sun
Lay beautiful
upon the waters. At early morning
the air was coolest there, and the sea
showed a hundred colors under the
radiant sky. By night the place had
mystic beauty of its own, when the
moon claye a white way across the
cleaning waters, and the palephosphor-
eseence tracked the swift, silent motions
OF the hsh- On 3 breezy or stormy day
the pier head. a mile away from the
shore, was coign of vantage around
which the winds eddied briskly or
Numbered nagnifcently, the foam
topped waves seething and roaring
among the timbers underneath.
A day rarely passed on which / did
not visit fha raiar. nftox -a.-...I \