INTRODUCTION 



The sand dunes and marshes of Ipswich in 

 Massachusetts have been for many years the 

 subject of close and loving scrutiny by Dr. 

 Townsend. He knows them in every aspect, 

 in every season. He knows their humblest in- 

 habitants, the shells cast up on the beaches, the 

 changes wrought by wind and wave, the tracks 

 of tiny feet upon the sand, and, best of all, has 

 caught the spirit of the place, which is as dis- 

 tinct from that of the mountains or the plains, 

 as Athens is from Rome. 



A paragraph such as the following will give 

 an idea of the power which Dr. Townsend has 

 of preserving in his writing the changing 

 moods of the places which he loves : — 



'^ Smiling skies, gentle balmy breezes, flow- 

 ers blooming and filling the air with their per- 

 fume, bird songs ringing from every clump of 

 bushes and grove of trees, perfect gems of 

 color in a setting of brilliant white sand, — all 

 of these are seductively enchanting. But the 

 full glory of the dunes, to my mind, is to be 

 found in the winter storms, when the biting 

 wind sweeps with resistless force over them, 

 driving snow and sand into the face of the toil- 

 ing dune traveler, when the gulls scream nois- 

 ily overhead, and flocks of ducks, restless in 



