Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-04-13
NATURE, LIKE MAN. WARS
Waters of the World, Waging
Trenches, War against Lands.
Varying Fortunes of Struggle Can lie
Read in shifting Scashore Sands
where Warfare Is StrikingIy
Portrayed.

''While civilized man is engaged in the
mightiest clash OF arms the world has
ever witnessed there are other forces
also at war. And while there is hope
that the great human saturnala may
soon end, there is no such hope In the
great struggle of the forces of nature,
for it is a truceless war that the waters
Of the world are waging against its
lands.
Mr.. John Oliver La Gorce. associate
editor Of the National Geographic society
has recently prepared for that institution
q study of this striking struggle between
the earth and the sea with the short lines
of the world as the far flung theatre OF
war.
After calling attention to the fact that
the processes which have transformed the
polar regions from dense jungles Of
tropical growth into lands Of perpetual
fee and snow. which have brought the
tops of mountains to the bottom of the
sea and the bottom of the sea to the tops
of mountains, are still going on, al
though the hands upon the face of the
clock of geology move slow that we
can not perceive their movement, Mr.
La Gorce continues:
Along every coast line on the face of
the earth there is perpetual war fare be-
tween the land and the sea, with the
wind as the shifting line. now throwing
its weight into the balance on the one
side and now on the other. Here the
land is taking the offensive, driving the
sea back foot by foot, always with the
aid of the wind; there the sea marshals
a great drive; and eats its way land
ward slowly and laboriously, but none
the less successfully. The varying
fortunes Of this relentless and age-long
war. which neither truce nor treaty will
ever bring to an end. can be read in
the shifting sands of the seashore. AT
many points along the coast of the
Northeastern States are found bold
cliffs, and the charging sea attacks them
with the shot and shell of loose shingles
Some of them, however, are adamant
and impregnable In their frontal fortif-
cations and hold out against the sorest
siege, but between them have occurred
stretches of softer rock and have been
literally pounded to dust by the oceans
heavy artillery, thus permitting flank
attacks on the hitherto unconquered de-
lenses.
along the southeastern coast, how
ever, the rock-bound cliff is the excep
tiOn ana the long stretches or entering
sand the rule. Here the sandy beach
reaches out farther and farther into
the sea. and the water is thus enabled
TO penetrate farther and farther into the
land, because the attack of the is
usually a frontal movement and that of
the land frequently wedge attack; thus
we can account for the long straight
shore on the one hand and the split on
the other.
1.-THE formation Of the beach imme-
diately guarded by the Cape Henry light
Is not changing so rapidly as is the case
only a few miles on either side because
OF Its somewhat protected position. due
to the many sand bars or reefs far out
from shore, which, acting as the first
trenches, serve to break the charge OF
the white horses Of Father Neptune as
they dash in from the ocean, and, be-
cause OF this knowledge of defense. II
Is plain to be seen that a good quarter
Of a mile Of beach has been added by