Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-24
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRAcEHELL.

down. thudding into the sand With
An electric wire, which supplied cur
rent for the far-spaced lights along the
boardwalk, snapped in the wind and
an end lay writhing in the wet sand,
every now and than sending forth big
the wet.
Who is the fool who Is going out
with stick to poke at the wire, Jump
ing as If alive? Why does he not let
1t alone? Surely he knows It is q dan
gsrous thing to play with electricity.
Perhaps he Is just trying to show on
before the gallery Of women and chill
dren on the hotel porch.
y y
After the rain the sun comes out,
more brilliantly than ever, although it
will set suddenly a half hour hence.
the beach Is honeycombed with shall
low pools left by the combination of
rain and salt water as the waves dashed
up, ana, in running back, left some
OF their water behind.
1t Is to these pools that the children
go with shouts, carrying in their brown
hands small boats with white sails. The
crafts have red hulls, striped with yell
low. The fresh wind careens them
across the little lakes. The children
shout. wade in, pursue their ships.
The little boats, gathering momentum
as they go, outstrip the children, who
splash and dash after them. Some run
around the edges, ready to meet their
boats as they ground on the otlaeF side.
Sudden vagaries of wind. catching
some vessels in the. middle Of their
little inland lakes, veer them to the
north, then to the vest, so that they
san straight back, like boomerangs, to
their masters.
*%*
In the morning. after q night of
heavy wind, true nor'easter, the beach
for miles shows the traceries Of the
master hand. A shelf Q feet high has
been cut out so feet from the waters
edge. Brave and hardy persons who
propose to go in bathing, despite the
heavy surf, will have to Jump down as
OF a.miniature cliff.
Here again is meat for the imagina-
ton OF the children. 1t Is sport to run
along the edges of those cliffs, as II
they were thousand feet high, or TO
jump. down, or to seek for natural gull
leys, between which unusual waves may
send back trickles OF fresh salt water
to build up the pools In the rear.
Today thousands Of fresh shells have
been cast up, crinkled fiuted, pink, to-
gether with shiny round stones, trans
lucent, fascinating. beautiful. They are
twisted with bits of seaweed, intangible
ribbon of the sea fairies.
y y ~
There are innumerable corks, too,
small, round, long, large corks, which
bob with the waves as they come crash
ing into the beach.
And there are bamboo poles, some
as much as ten feet long, thrown up by
the sea to become playthings for joy
Gus city children.
Above all, there is the sea, and the
sun and the wind, each helping the
other to make the beach unlike any
other place in the world Perhaps those
born and bred in the mountains may
not agree that the sandy beach Is the
best place in the world, but to those
who grew up with pet beach, and who
came to love every wind, the highest
mountain cannot compare with the low
Hest beach, blown over by winds fresh
OF the ocean, cradle of life.
Salt, salt salt, salt-the very breath
| OF life blows over the beaches, bringing
health and healing to tired human be-
ings in need of what the beach offers.
Even its memories are wholesome.