. At intervals, and not
infrequent ones, the forest and the ocean summon me--one with the roar
of its waves, the other with the murmur of its boughs--forth from the
haunts of men. But I must wander many a mile ere I could stand beneath
the shadow of even one primeval tree, much less be lost among the
multitude of hoary trunks and hidden from the earth and sky by the
mystery of darksome foliage. Nothing is within my daily reach more
like a forest than the acre or two of woodland near some suburban
farmhouse. When, therefore, the yearning for seclusion becomes a
necessity within me, I am drawn to the seashore which extends its line
of rude rocks and seldom-trodden sands for leagues around our bay.
Setting forth at my last ramble on a September morning, I bound myself
with a hermit's vow to interchange no thoughts with man or woman, to
share no social pleasure, but to derive all that day's enjoyment from
shore and sea and sky, from my soul's communion with these, and from
fantasies and recollections or anticipated realities. Surely here is
enough to feed a human spirit for a single day.--Farewell, then, busy
world! Till your evening lights shall shine along the street--till
they gleam upon my sea-flushed face as I tread homeward--free me from
your ties and let me be a peaceful outlaw.

Highways and cross-paths are hastily traversed, and, clambering down a
crag, I find myself at the extremity of a long beach. How gladly does
the spirit leap forth and suddenly enlarge its sense of being to the
full extent of the broad blue, sunny deep! A greeting and a homage to
the sea! I descend over its margin and dip my hand into the wave that
meets me, and bathe my brow. That far-resounding roar is Ocean's voice
of welcome. His salt breath brings a blessing along with it. Now let
us pace together--the reader's fancy arm in arm with mine--this noble
beach, which extends a mile or more from that craggy promontory to
yonder rampart of broken rocks. In front, the sea; in the rear, a
precipitous bank the grassy verge of which is breaking away year after
year, and flings down its tufts of verdure upon the barrenness below.
The beach itself is a broad space of sand, brown and sparkling, with
hardly any pebbles intermixed. Near the water's edge there is a wet
margin which glistens brightly in the sunshine and reflects objects
like a mirror, and as we tread along the glistening border a dry spot
flashes around each footstep, but grows moist agai