Page 83 - 1932 Hartridge

mendous thud oF a fallen wave upon the shore, an accented heat in the symphony. Then unexpectedly I stood upon a pier, gazing down on an unfamiliar sea. I stood transfixed, frozen, fearful, terrified. What was revealed to me I had never read of; I had never conceived this. I strained my eyes, and gazed into the mist of the horizon.
I could not perceive the limit of sea or sky. There was none. This endless unity was mysteriously unpleasant. The gray waters surged and sank. I gazed upon the color- less expanse in wonder. Underneath its swollen surface I felt there was an unim­ agined, unproved power. The whole lay like a muscle pulled up taut for action The angry surly waters could not control their passion, and they heat down with their majestic white foam-fringed waves upon the helpless sand, carrying oif tons of it to
deposit in the ocean depths.
Such expression of wrath, such terrible evil heauty was sinister. The strength of the sea was selfish. The sea was selfish to the core; it could not obtain enough to satisfy its desire. Its real strength was hidden, unseen. How different from my
mountains! It whispered into my ear hideous, heinous tales of tragedy, and evil, and daring romances. I had to listen to its fascinating stories, although I felt I should not. I was thrilled by its ruthless spirit. I was shocked to find myself yielding to its wicked charm. It was bold, and threw a cheap salt spray in my face as it had thrown it to all its ruddy-faced sailors. How unlike the reserved mountains was this im­ petuous sea! With all its familiarity the sea and I shall never be intimate. For what I feel for the sea is not intimacy, but fearful fascination, admiration, and dis­ trust. Yes, I have bathed in its salt bracing wave. And I have seen it in different moods, frolicking, happy, playful; yet I shall never forget its underlying characteris­ tics as they were first revealed to me, because these characteristics I feel are eternally the sea's.
I have returned to my mountain and it seems more gloriously beautiful than ever before. The infectious fortitude of the hills is mine again. Life is more certain, more real now. I went to my home glad to forget the sea, but now I am returned
I hear its melody droning through my brain. I cannot put out of my mind its re­ markable simplicity and its mysterious power. I long sometimes to feel its impertinent salt spray. Is this the lure of the sea to which I felt I was immune?
A. L. , 33.
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