Evening star., 1949-10-04
This and That
By Charles E. TraceweU
HARVARD STREET.

"HARvARD STREET.
Dear Sir:
For over a week had no companionship
other than sandpipers dancing their minuet
on the beach. I was at lonely spot near
Atlantic City trying it for hay fever.
Incidentally, 1t is good only when the
breeze is from the sea, but that predomi-
mates.
Break, break on thy shores, Oh cold
gray sea- and week on thy shore suf-
hceth to break me!
The sandp1perS are so dainty dancing
back and forth to keep from getting their
feet wet, squabbling like children over It'd
bits, but you get shock to observe the ugly
mattocklike bill. It gives them cruel
hooked-nose gangster aspect.
IT have to laugh at the human similarity
in some Of their actions.
when one has q piece Of good fortune
and finds q baby crab, the whole flock in
stantly gangs up on him and he is lucky If
he can get out to sea and gulp it down be-
fore he drops it.
Reminds me Of my life in the city. If
make nice piece Of change, my friends in
other lines Of business drop everything and
fguratively chase my client out to sea to
get what he has.
= "The world owes everything living. eh?
Sincerely. B. L. F."
Shore birds. or waders. are always inter-
esting.
They belong to seashore life, in itself
fascinating subject.
In recent years several books upon this
phase OF nature have been issued. Those
who must read about the things that interest
them will find them well worth looking up,
provided the flora and fauna of the seashore
intrigues them.
The living creatures Of the shore are far
greater in number than the careless watcher
knows.
Most persons. when they go to secluded
seashore place, see the sand or fiddler crabs
the sea lice, so-called. and some of the birds
But there are many other forms Of life
present. some Of them hard to see, others
easy to ind. The very seashore grasses have
their own peculiar attractions, but the OBJ
server must for first be interested in grasses
as living things. Just to think of grass as
something to make lawn is not enough.
Young Of the various sandpipers are
called precocial, that is, not cared for in the
nest. They take care of themselves after
leaving the shell.
These birds. including the snipes and
sandpipers, are esteemed as food, but an
other great value Is their destruction of
various pests 1nimical to man. This is often
overlooked. AS group, they consume cut
worms, grasshoppers. army worms. cabbage
worms, cotton worms and boil weevils, ticks,
mosquitoes and horse flies. It is formid-
able.list. one which gives this group of birds
claim to our gratitude. ~
The dreamer at the seaslaore will not be
interested in trying to find out how many
life forms he can find. He will spend more
time watching the cloud formations and the
rolling porposses, and listening to the ageless
music Ct the breakers. the eternal swish that
seems TO many souls the most beautiful
music In the world.
We know man who loved that music 80
much that he Is afraid to 60 back, lest he
never want to come home again. The story
OF the enchantress Is based on fact, but the
lure Is not feminine, despite the old story
The lure Is sexless, consisting Of one part
| sea, one part air and one part, what shall
we call it-wonder?
# there is no wonder, there Is not so much
lure, but even without this precious ingredient
the sea and the shore air can do lot for
the spirit Of man. Therefore 1t may be said
that II one goes to the shore to get relief
from asthma and gets 1t not, one still Is the
gamer, II he carries with him the prize Of
the ages, which Is wonder, the ability not
only to see. but to try and understand. The
witless people Of all ages have been those,
who, seeing. have not marveled. What dif-
ference II no answer comes? One probably
wouldn't believe the answer, he stumbled
on 1t. Nobody has ever heard the lost chord
again, because no one recognizes 1t, but the
ability to dream and marvel Is lost chord
fos,yd