ater
or the possibility of a steeper slope for the sand-walls, are listened
to with attention and respect. You are rewarded by an invitation which
allows you to witness the very moment when the dyke is broken and the
sea admitted into basin and canal, or the yet more ecstatic moment when
the Union Jack waves over the completed castle.

Indolence and adventure charm the dabblers, as industry absorbs the
engineers. The sands are of all earthly spots the most delightful; but a
greater delight than any earthly spot can afford awaits the dabbler in
the sea. It is mostly the girls who dabble; the gaiety and frolic suit
them better than the serious industry of castles and canals. Deliverance
from shoes and stockings, the first thrill of pleasure and surprise at
the cool touch of the water, the wild rush along the brim, the dainty
advance till the sea covers the little ankles, the tremulous waiting
with an air of defiance as the wave deepens round till it touches the
knee, the firm line with which the dabblers grasp hand in hand and face
the advancing tide, the sudden panic, the break, the disorderly flight,
the tears and laughter, the run after the wave as it retreats again, the
fresh advance and defiance--this is the paradise of the dabbler. Hour
after hour, with clothes tucked round their waist and a lavish display
of stout little legs, the urchins wage their mimic warfare with the
sea. Meanwhile the scientific section is encamped upon the rocks. With
torn vestments and bruised feet the votaries of knowledge are peeping
into every little pool, detecting mussel-shells, picking up seaweed,
hunting for anemones. A shout of triumph from the tiny adventurer who
has climbed over the rough rock-shelf announces that he has secured a
prize for the glass jar at home, where the lumps of formless jelly burst
into rosy flowers with delicate tendrils waving gently round them for
food. A cry of woe tells of some infantile Whymper who has lost his hold
on an Alpine rock-edge some six inches high. Knowledge has its
difficulties as well as its dangers, and the difficulty of forming a
rock-section in the face of the stern opposition of mothers and nurses
is undoubtedly great. Still, formed it is, and science furnishes a
goodly company of votaries and martyrs to the congress by the sea.

But of course the naval section bears away the palm. It is for the most
part composed of the elder boys and of a few girls who would be boys if
they could. It