ON THE COAST OF ARE AN 55 



up friends here and there until our party 

 numbered nearly twenty. A little beyond the 

 school-house there is a certain boulder standing 

 on the shore. It is a strange piece of work, 

 singular in shape and huge in size. Frost, or 

 some other agent, has sent a rift right through 

 it, and the upper portion has slid forward a foot 

 or so. If you stand with your back against 

 it and look southward you get the best pos- 

 sible view of Corrie a view which would 

 always tempt you to take out pencil and sketch- 

 book. 



There is the curved margin of the beach; 

 the winding high-road; the long, picturesque 

 group of houses, backed from this point by a 

 grove of trees ; and, in the far distance, where 

 the sea makes its horizon line, the bold form of 

 Holy Island. Here we wait to see if there are 

 any stragglers, and then set forward upon our 

 journey. In such a company the high spirits 

 of the young people are infectious, and we sober 



