1 8. BEACHCOMBINGS 



'Good-morning!' that and no more, is good 

 enough for town. 'Good-day !' the countryman's 

 older-fashioned greeting, has the advantage of 

 suiting itself to times and persons. 'Dirty day!' 

 alongshore changes back on land, where rain pelts 

 down gentlier and the wind Is less felt, Into that 

 most comfortless of optimisms, 'Nice growing 

 weather!' On the sea-wall, from those who 

 have an interest in the fishing, 'Nice beach now !' 

 Is a common form of salutation, whenever there 

 happens to be a good beach and often when there 

 is not. For the beach is hardly less variable than 

 the weather, and only those who have boat-hauling 

 to do ever know its state accurately. 



Ordinarily it descends to the water in a series 

 of banks, called cops — a flight, as it were, of 

 great irregular steps with slopes, flats, or even 

 hollows between them. (Better to wait the tide 



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