IV ' NEVER NO KNOWING ' 189 



For the beach is more than a place of trade. 

 It is the narrow channel through which the con- 

 verging tides of a longshoreman's life flow, from 

 the sea where he works to land where he lives, and 

 back again to the sea by which he lives. On the 

 beach, high and low tide, and that tide in the 

 affairs of men, join forces, and are watched as one. 



'Just turned out then?' Is the first question 

 asked, should one stay in house till noon; the 

 inference being that only bed would keep a man 

 away. A man on the beach, as he describes 

 himself professionally, seldom strays far on land; 

 and then as often as not to some vantage point 

 whence he can view the shore or sea. His first 

 move, on coming downstairs In the morning. Is to 

 walk out to beach ; after his cup o' tay, If It can 

 be had quickly, but before, for a peep out over, 

 if the kettle Is long a-bolling. When there is 

 nothing doing, he will spend the whole day 

 chattering on the sea-wall about old times, or 

 walking every half-hour from the beach into house, 

 from his house back to the beach. The sea alone 

 can keep him long away from It; and for this 

 reason, that as a place of never no knowing the 

 beach Is only bested by the sea. 



