The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-07-28
THE SANDS O'DEE


Christian Science Monitor: The Welsh
call the Dee Dwfrdwy. This is mention.
eo in passing, because the Dee, in its
origin and in part of its course, Is a
J Welsh river. and its Welsh name should,
in any mention of the river. be duly
recorded. This name need not, however,
enter further into anything that may
be said about ii. Any one who knows
the Dee well thinks ever gratefully, of
course, of its upper reaches, of the
| beautiful Lake Bala, where it takes its
rise; of the wonderful Vale of Llansol-
len, and of the rivers journey, thirty
miles or more, down to Overton,
through the narrow valley, inclosed on
the south by the steep lower slopes of
the Berwyn Mountains and on the north
by a series of lesser hills running away
to the sea If he is an Englishman.
| however, he thinks Of il firmly as the
| Dee, all the way.
Then he win remember it lower down,
! when il has ceased the tumblng and
rushing and rock-dodging habits of its
| Welsh days and has become gracious,
| placid stream. which flows, rich brown,
and clear. under the great trees of
Eton Park, past the red city wall of
| Chester, past the historic woods of
Hawarden, and so on TO the famous
estuary, with its still more famous
sands. Now, on a first view, whether
the day be fair or dull, there is little
about the sands O. Dee that one should
desire them. Viewed from the Cheshire
| side, there is. Of course, the grand pros
pect Of the Welsh coast, with its wooded
! hills and distant mountains. but lying
in between, when the tide is out there
is just one vast stretch of wet, gray
sand, through the midst of which
meanders aimlessly the thin thread of
| the river. Such is the view, for in.
stance gained from the heights above
| Hoylake; just a great, gray waste, with
here and there, a gaunt tide-washed
pile sticking up crookedly out of the
sand, with festoons Of seaweed about
its feet, and flapping idly in the breeze
About a mile from Cheshire shore Is
| the little island of Hilorae. with its
solitary white house; but beyond this,
there is nothing in all that seventy
square miles of immensity but sand
and sea gulls.
Then suddenly the tide turns, and
the daily repeated miracle begins. The
water rushes in like mill race. Shal.
! low channels become filled One min.
ute. Islands, peninsulas, grotesque pro-
montories; are being formed in all d.
rections, the next, they are blotted
/ -. -.
the narrow thread Of the river seems
10 be expanding by leaps and bounds,
and so the water comes steadily on,
| Lntil in an incredibly short space of
time, IL has flooded the whole vast
estuary. and is washing the sand dunes
of the Cheshire coast and the pebbles
on the shore Of Wales five miles away.
1t is then, of course, when the sands
o Dee are covered, that the most peo-
rle would acclaim the prospect at its
best but those who have lived with
these strange wastes any length of time,
and have seem them in all their varying
moods learn to love them. Summer or
winter. there Is no place in all England
where the sunsets are more wonderful.
and il was TO Hoylake overlooking the
famous sands, that Turner, that great
| painter of sunsets, resorted TO do much
OF his work. And TO see the sunset
at its best, the tide must be out, and
the waste must be wet, and the dun
red glare from the west must light up
a thousand pools OF water in wilder.
ness OF sand. Then, OF course. there is
the moonlight view when the moon
casts in silver what the sun. a few
hours before. had cast In red and sold.
and the lights on the far.away Welsh
coast twinkle and twinkle again, like
so many groups Of stars. So It was,
anyway in the days before the war.
Here. indeed, is the only reminder OF
war amidst these silent stretches Of
land. sea, and sky. II is specially notice
able perhaps. just now in the long sum
mer evenings. No longer do lights flash
out suddenly from the distant shore OF
Wales as the half darkness Of the sum.
mer night at last takes possession.
Nowadays. the moon alone does all the
lighting there is TO be done at night
over the sands o Dee as over the rest
Of the country.