The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1902-12-04
The ReverieS of a
Sand Grab.
x111 . ID 11.I . 9 8 $4,000
RY s RHETr pQMAN
BY S RHETT RON AN

ffTHE day is soft and misty, bright,
l and breeze blows the foam of
the waves over the sand.
'"ride is high, and the water
washes up shells and star-fsh, and
spars of drift wood, along the edge
of the beach, and children troop out
from the big hotel to pick up the
pretty play things, while grown peo-
pie sit on the halfburied, water
soaked masts and logs, and watch the
restless play of the ocean, and the
fitting shadows of the clouds as they
shift by in the summer sky.
"They sit idly on the beach and
say foolish things to each other, and
laugh, and half the time do not rea-
lie the poetic grandeur of the scene
before them, the wondrous combin-
ing line of tints and colors or the
sublimify Of the play Of moon beams
on the rolling, restless water.
'The children run about and shout
49,. A...-..ol, gather smells, and dig
holes in the sand-my sand-with
their toy shovels, and then quarrel
over who was first to see piece of
seawood, or corral broken from the
Florida reefs; or they sit down and
build houses, shouting with glee as
the wind sweeps them over, and they
melt away. Their elders, absorbed
in themselves, talk of their puny am
bitions, their plans and prospects,
their shallow loves, and short lives,
all of which l hear as | peep out
from the sand dunes and listen.
There is bench, close down by
the waters edge, near my favorite
haunt. Every evening at dark
come out slyly, knowing the pale
light will confound me with the gray
sand, so that no one, not even the
dogs will snap and snarl, and dig in
to the shifting hillocks in pursuit of
me, can distinguish my slight, agile
form when night falls.
IL come out slowly and stealthily
and laugh at the big New Found
lands, and querulous, over-fed pet
dogs, rambling along the edge OF th'
water, while their mistresses stroll
by, and the wind blowing agains
them, shows pretty feet, tipping
from under rufiles and laces, and sof
strands of hair, little curls ant
tendrils which. no comb or ribbon cal
keep in place, on our long stretch O.
wind-blown seashore.
II watch the young men and tn
girls as they saunter along, and al
ways guess rightly which ones ar
going to pause, and sit down on th'
bench. Oh. | never make mistake.
"There is certain couple w
grown to know quite well. She
been here all summer. She's pretty
very pretty, and holds her head high
He comes over from the city fire
quently, very frequently of late, TO
the summer is waning fast, and vii
soon be over, and then they will al
20 away from the seashore and bacI
TO their everyday lives, and, as ia
rs ! can Judge, will forget each othe
completely.
II Ike to watch men and womer
and / remember faces. Often tn
same ones come back and rene,
their walks on the beach, sit on tn
rocks of the brcakwater and occup
this dccaying old bench near tn
beach but it is seldom that those o
the year before are again together.
II know, because it is quite anus
ing 10 watch them, and it makes IN
laugh until | grow tired and positive
ly weak, to hear the same old FOOLS
talk repeated over and over agair
The only difference is that when tn
seasons change they change compar
ions.
"And, strange TO say, they all loy
TO prate disdainfully of the 'changin
sea- and of what they are pleased t
call 'constancy.' That seems to be
favorite topic with them. Especial
with the very young men and tn
girls just from college. The olde
and wiser man grows, I notice, th
less he has to say about constanc,
and the women .-..-,..-..