X LONGSHORE LIFE 9 



The vveeding-out ought to be done at once, of 

 course; but these easterly winds make one cussed, 

 and, instead, I have decided to plant out cabbages 

 (must hurry up!), leaving the weeds in peace till 

 they are bigger, and easier to catch hold of. 

 And finally, if the cats don't conduct their court- 

 ships too ferociously among the seedlings, and if 

 the pretty little butterflies' moll-scrawls don't eat 

 the unfortunate little cabbages right up, we, in 

 our turn, next August or September, shall have 

 greens for dinner that we owe to this north- 

 easter. 'Hasn't never see'd it aforetime?' as 

 the or Man says. 'I have!' 



But, cabbages included, there is no way of life 

 so bound up with all the changes of wind and sea 

 as the longshoreman's, not alone as regards the 

 business of it, but in all its intimacies, from what 

 is trivial and of the moment, even to the begetting 

 of children. Where sea and land meet in an age- 

 long fight between energy and stubbornness; 

 where men snatch their living, by leave of the 

 winds, from waters that yield to skill, but are 

 never conquered; there, alongshore. Is the scene 

 of the greatest activity, the quickest reaction, 

 the keenest, trickiest struggle between the two. 

 There the sea Is watched with more than emotion 



