Chapter VIII 



OFF SHORE 



HO has not heard, 

 amid the heat and 

 din of cities, the 

 voice of the sea 

 striking suddenly 

 into the hush of 

 thought its pene- 

 trating note of mystery and longing? 

 Then work and the fever which goes with 

 it vanished on the instant, and in the 

 crowded street or in the narrow room there 

 rose the vision of unbroken stretches of sky, 

 free winds, and the surge of the unresting 

 waves. That invitation never loses its al- 

 luring power ; no distance wastes its music, 

 and no preoccupation silences its solicitation. 

 It stirs the oldest memories, and awakens 

 the most primitive instincts ; the long past 

 speaks through it, and through it the buried 

 generations snatch a momentary immor- 

 tality. History that has left no record, 

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