Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-08-15
THE SEA-MARSH.
The Delights of Solitude in a Boat.

A fanciful writer has developed the
theory that 1t is easier than 1t was
hundred years ago to find solitude
in civilized countries. Then agri-
culturists ranged naturally over the
great spaces; now the traffic of life
keeps to the prescribed routes. The
writer made no allowance for the fact
that the tourist, with sense Of ma
tural beauty more consciously culti-
waited than ever before, has rushed In
where the agriculturists has ceased to
tread. The tourist calls grand"
what his ancestor of the eighteenth
century called Savage" and 1t is
unjust TO his enterprise to say that
he does not wander far from the rail-
ways. The rucksack, though 1t has
not yet won the place in our esteem
it will have one day, has already en-
abled thousands of Englishmen in
their own country to become fnde-
pendent of every means of transport.
But even in a rucksack you cannot
carry bed, and the present writer
(who would promise that he is not
averse to a reasonable Comfort) has
learned from experience method of
making the most romantic solitude
habitable. The secret, which Is ap-
plicable only to estuaries, rivers and
lakes, lies in the use Of beamy boat
as headquarters. A boat between f1f-
teen and twenty tons does very we'll.
z,I,, l., -, kx, oh nv
instance, you do not eat your break
fast before your bunk is made, and
do not turn in at night before the
dinner things are washed up-it will
be found that there Is more room in
such a boat than in many cottages
the bulk of which is hundred times
greater. The architectural problem
of admitting many cupboards into
small buildings was solved ages ago
by naval architects, though 1t still
puzzles us on land, where we have
been less hotly pressed by necessity.
The Incompatible advantage of a
boat Is that it can be moved from
place to place. Even If it be hulk
without sails it can be towed. The
most convenient cottage ever built
remains in the same place.
The boat was lying in a creek on
the Norfolk coast, secure from the
highest wind that winter night
could bring. To be truthful, the high
tide just Tapped her sides without
making her float, The sensation of
4. 81 l. do
where the curtains are drawn and
the fire burns bright has become a
kind of traditional satisfaction, ccle-
brated for us everywhere in litera-
ture. But to those who are bad sail
ors, at all events, there is still more
curious satisfaction in hearing squalls
In rigging while the ship remains firm
as rock.
There is no bit of coast in Eng
land quite like that which stretchci
from Wolferton to Wells. 1t is the
Norolk margin of the shallow Wash.
1t is gaining on the sea, in accord
ance 18th the principle that our
coast gains where 1t lies low and re-
ccives continual accretiOns of sand,
and loses where it is high and is an
dermined by the sea beating on the
base of cliffs. To stranger who
has not studied his map, it is al
ways puzzling to find tha. though
he IS on the East Coast he may see
the sun set in the sea, and atch a
heavy sea roll in when the wind is
from the west. The unrivalleu charm
of this wild coast, however, il the
salt marshes and flats guarded by
barriers of sand further out to sea.
These marshes and mud flats aro
filled with an extraordinary variety
of birds, and are one of the favorite
arriving places of birds in the autumn
immigration. The present writer
has watched the immigrants arrive on
an autumn day, not volleying across
the sky in delirious flight, as they
are sometimes said to do, but flying
with the measured, deliberate air of
rather tired but still resolute pill
grims; Hopping and lolloplng they
came, yet never deviating from the
straight line.
AS one looked seaward beyond the