Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-09


happiest moments. refreshed by the germ
destroying o1Cne. the medication OF the
sea hresse and my daily dip. inyigcrated in
brain and Drawn. at peace with all the
world. charmed by the mystery Of that vast
blue-the anticipation that something I'M
expected Win rise up above the horizon bar
s SURF r cast st my feet BY the sharnins
Gold and silver In the Waves.
But look yonder. The King of Clouds Is
lifting his thunder head from behind the
vast glimmering sheet; and see how those
waves far out there-ai 50 peaceful when
we sat down-are DOMINIC their white storm
caps. How gray the turquoise above and
the sapphire below are becoming: and the
sand, does 1t sting your face. too. as II
drifts by? And the waves-see how high
they are growing. II we were In the open
sea now we could. Just by noting their
average height, estimate the velocity of
the wind. How? Well. far out, whence
that storm came. the velocity of the wind
In miles per hour is just double the height
of the waves In feet. If the waves are
twenty feet high then the wind is blowing
forty miles an hour. Yes. it's something
worth remembering. But In q West Indian
hurricane or Pacific typhoon-think how
monstrous the waves must sometimes be.
Here comes the rain Let us sit up here
on the leeward side of the dune. Yes, the
sea grown angry still charms US with its
vast strength. Would you believe that that
churning gulf down there-all of Its connect
ed oceans and seas incuded-covers a hun
dred and thirty millions of square miles
more than one square mile and half for
each man, woman and child In this. land of
ours7 Yes 1t is so, and they estimate that
under three millions of square miles in
the North Atlantic lie the bones or
powdered ashes of thirty thousand caravels.
yQ1l md prodn chi Ind
believe that in all of the oceans put to-
gether there are three to four hundred
millions Of cubic miles of water: that In
each cubic mile King Neptune boards from
a hundred and thirty to two hundred and
sixty tons of gold, and double that weight
Of silver? Think of the billions of tons of
those precious metals which mans
avaricious hands cannot grasp! Enough,
If equally distributed. to make every man
wealthy, II the value could be kept where
1t Is now.
Greatest Depths Where Monsters Lurk.
From that sloping shingle, there below,
the velvet sand gradually slopes into wales,
rises again in gentle hillocks. descends into
deep valleys, rises again and again into
submerged foothills and mountain ranges,
and finally descends into the great Nero
Deep-on our new island OF GUIANA vast
dark abyss six miles deep, into which Mt
Everest itself, giant of all the world
peaks, might be cast, head down, never TO
be seen again until the oceans recede.
Think of 1t! And do you know that in these
deep valleys of perpetual night awful mon
sters are known to Turk some OF them
blind. some bearing torches to light them
on their way. many more which have never
been seen-perhaps the giant lizards of an
cient times ages before man? And did you
ever stop to consider that these monsters,
seen and unseen. never know when the
angry storm fiend is thrashing like this
ho q
greatly are they compressed by the tons
of water resting upon them that even when
brought to the surface. in the dredges OF
inquisitive naturalists. they actually e1-
plode. Indeed, should this storm fend
snatch us from our dune and bear us
down to the bottom Of that ever-dark Nero
Deep every square inch of our frail bodies
would be powdered by the weight OF two
tons OF sea- And yet there are creatures
alive In the deepest sea abysses which have
ever been dredged.
could have waited not single minute
more for dinner-am ravenous as it is.
Were the nostrils of the gods on Mt. Olym-
pus ever gladdened by anything SO deli
cious as those steaming soft crabs and that
king fish there in the platter, all garnished
with lettuce Tomorrow, bright and early,
we will go down to the wharf, which bris-
ties yonder with catboats. and put out for
the fishing grounds, there to angle away
until We see the glorious sunset over the
bay. Then, If we toss a quarter or two to
the chef we can have own fresh fish
for dinner. If the ozone. the germ-proof
air, the indicated water have taken ten
years Off your life. old fellow, you VIII be
a youth in pinafores after a steady diet OF
the phosphorus hidden in this fresh sea
food
Nerve and Brain Builders.
Yes, they say it is the greatest of nerve
and brain builders. but out of just plain,
ordinary city fare your digestion will
force nourishment, down here, which 1t
never gets at home. l was talking not long
ago to a weIl-known chemist and physician
an Englishman by birth-who in his
younger days had followed the sea. Above
aught else he dotted on his Scotch ale and
cheese, but after settling in one of our In
land cities he found that Indulgence in
these one-time harmless items of diet threw
him into painful paroxysms of dyspepsia,
when the black bile would rise in him. But
each summer, while by the sea, in just such
a place as this, he could guZzie his ale by
the quart and gnaw his cheese by the
pound with IMMUNITY He explained the
physiology of it to me, but it would take
too long to labor through it.
And there is that glorious moon. She
slipped slyly up while we were dining and
were so deep in dietary discussion. Now is
the time OF times to stroll on the deserted
Single. But did l ray deserted" What
is that chain of silver-tinted dots stretching
north and south and fading away in per-
spective? Summer girls and their SWANS,
did you say? How stupid of me! Do you
know. here we have a field of research
open for the psychologist. 1t holds ripe
harvest just waiting for the reaping They
must tell us why this glorious seaside en-
vironment converts into Romeo or a
Juliet the most hardened misogynist or
misogamist They must tell us, too, which
stimulus is most potent to the tender pas
sion-the ozone, the oxygen the chloride of
sodium, the iodine, the bromine, the cleo
tricity or the phosphorus.
Yes, we must go back, l guess-such old
fellows as we are. Out here we should be
de trop, doubt and perhaps tomorrow we
can manage acquaintance with those
two widows whom we saw at dinner So
now 1 guess we had better go and find that
fellow with the white duck coat and dia-
mond shirt stud and let him shake us up
what was it? Then we will talk some
more We" Why--well, perhaps I have
been doing most of the talking. What?
Too bad we don't know those widows to-
night, Ell? Sly dogt Look! There they are
now and looking at us. andy Jovei-the
blonde one has dropped her fan. / will res
cue 1t and then introduce you to them
both. / do certainly wonder whether it is
the ozone, or what-don't you?
JOHN EPRETH WATKINS.
OLD STONE WELL MOVED.