2 JANUARY. 



sparkles ! how it boils and bubbles ! how it rings and 

 hisses! The wind sings shrilly out of the driving 

 clouds, now sinking to a moan, now rising to a roar; 

 but we cannot hear it, for its tones are drowned in the 

 ceaseless rushing of the mighty waves upon the beach 

 and the rattle of the recoiling pebbles. Along the 

 curvature of the shore the shrill hoarse voice runs, 

 becoming softer and mellower as it recedes ; while the 

 echo of the bounding cliffs confines and repeats it, and 

 mingles it with the succeeding ones, till all are blended 

 on the ear in one deafening roar. 



But let us climb these slippery rocks, and picking 

 our way cautiously over yonder craggy ledges, leaping 

 the chasms that yawn between and reveal the hissing 

 waters below, let us strive to attain the vantage-ground 

 of that ridge that we see some fifty feet above the beach. 

 It is perilous work, this scrambling over rocks, alter- 

 nately slimy with treacherous sea-weed, and bristling 

 with sharp needle-points of honey-combed limestone ; 

 now climbing a precipice, with the hands clutching 

 these same rough points, and the toes finding a pre- 

 carious hold in their interstices ; now descending to a 

 ledge awfully overhung ; now creeping along a narrow 

 shelf, by working each foot on, a few inches at a time ; 

 while the fingers nervously cling to the stony precipice, 

 and the mind strives to forget the rugged depths below, 



