The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-23

udy AFTERNOON OF laSt week. lney are Doll
large and rather powerful men and botf
| accustomed to the salt water. The sur
was rolling hard enough to knock then
down several times before they got beyonC
the breakers. In the course OF about forty
minutes they were carried almost withou
their realizing it TOO feet down towarc
Nortons Point. The force that swept
them irresistibly along is the force tha
scours and eats away beach. The fore,
that knocked them down was much NOR,
apparent, but it is not very destructive.
Sea Gate has proved to be so comfortable
summer home for considerable number
of busy New Workers. that the cottager,
will not feel satisfied until they see thi:
beach preserving experiment in successful
operation, If the first attempt does moi
do all that It is expected to do it will bt
easily modified or extended. Persons who
have given great deal of attention to the
subject have no doubt of the ultimate
result
When the idea of fencing off little bill
Of New York citv's waterfront for private
use was projected it was held by some
folks to be OF doubtful expediency. II
was about that time that the Newport cot.
tagers fenced off their bathing beach AND
part of the adjacent sea, and there was great
commotion among the plain people. Many
change was rung upon the old joke about
some folks being too good to swim In the
same ocean with other folks.
Perhaps it was because the Newport
matter diverted their attention that people
didn't notice that the same thing was being
done right in this city. Such, however
was the fact, The sand and the brine were
cut of In little bit of Greater New York
and at Newport itself the bars were not
more impossible.
If you stroll far enough up the Coney
Island beach at low tide, when the sand Ia
hard and the footing firm, you will come
well on the way up to Norton's Point, to
high to climb over-stretching from the
roadway far enough out into the water
so that even at the ebb it would take a
fairly good swimmer to swim around to the
other side.
That fence means just what it seems to
say--"Keep out" IL you should swim
around to the forbidden side and one OF
the four stalwart cops should see you, his
heart would be torn by conflict between a
hospitable impulse to tell you to come
ashore and rest and then depart and sin
no more, and the prompting OF duty, which
would compel him to drive you gasping
back into the yawning deep.
That situation, however, doesn't often
arise, partly because Illicit landings are
seldom attempted and also because the
copper isn't looking for trouble In that
direction. But many time and oft in the
course of the day the young Horatiuss who
guards the gate at the inner end of the
fence has to interpose himself between the
invader and the sacred garden. In such
case 1t becomes his duty to challenge the
applicant for admission and, II he can find
any possible pretext for doing so. TO ex-
clude him.
who dive want to see?" is The first ques-
ton. II the answer is nobody in particular,
the examination ends then and there-the
candidate is rejected If, on the other
hand, he responds with The name and adj
dress Of some actual bona fide resident OF
the place, whose dues are paid to the first
day Of the preceding month, who has no
outstanding account for sewer, water gas
or cab connections, who has subscribed
for the life saving crew and never keeps the
garbage man waiting, the visitor will re-
ceive further scrutiny. Then, if he hap
pens to be wearing his good clothes, II he
can prove by family records duly attested,
that he is within the third degree OF con-
sanguinity to the person he has asked to
see, if it appears from an exhibition OF his
casual holdings Of note and coin that he
probably doesn't want to borrow money
the ntercepter may send up TO the cottage
and inquire whether the cottager cares to
see the stranger at the gate
All this, OF course, is made necessary
bv the proximity of the place to Coney
Island and the certainty that If strict
measures Of exclusion were not adopted
the daily excursion crowd would swarm
in and look for the sign Basket parties
welcome" on every broad veranda.
II is a very pretty gate that stands be-
tween Coney Island and this little region
beyond a high gate with an arch covering
a broad driveway and a gate house for
the inquisitor. Already there are about
one hundred cottages within the gate,
and the number grows year by year-eigh-
teen last summer twelve this season.
Sea Gate is such a little place, so narrow
from shore to shore. that folks can't help
being neighborly. You don't realize how
small it is until some strenuous person
starts up his automobile and begins to
ride like mad about the short, smooth,
gray macadam roads
Thirty seconds after he has flashed by
your front door you hear his horn footing
in the rear, and almost before the dust has
settled he is back again. When this has
been repeated about dozen times by
two or three motor cars you come not I'M
naturally to the conclusion that all the
devils OF all the different colors in the
Automobile Club have rammed the gate
and come whizzing into the park to ter
rorize the inhabitants.
Another attractive feature OF Sea Gate
is the Field Club. which promotes lawn
tennis, with an occasional game of base
ball between the householders and the
boarders, the married men and the single,
the fat and the lean or the blondes and
brunettes
The Atlantic Yacht Clubs house and
anchorage over on the inner side Of the
peninsula is the show place of the settle
inent, and its Saturday night dance is the
big social assemblage Of the week. Many
of the jewellers in Sea Gate are members Of
the yacht club.
Sitting on almost any veranda in Sea
Gate on these summer nights you may see
the fireworks and the brilliance of Coney
Island not far away. The red lantern beams
in the lighthouse at the end of the point
the great fash over on the Highlands points
It's long finger across the waters every so
often, and the beacons gleam on komer
Shoal, the West Bank and Old Orchard.
BY day the ships go in and out, to and from
nj the world, every one spectacle for
I his gate of the sea 1t is good to he alive
there and to watch them.
And it is good TO be alive and watch the
women bathers passing back and forth
from the beach to the cottages or loung-
ing in the sand and to see the brown
skinned youngsters at play,
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POPF'S VIEWS on CHT RCH WI SIC.