A SEVERE SHOCK 163 



on reaching the rock I found it a scene of 

 desolation ; the sea had not risen and washed 

 it away ; no storm had displaced it ; no work- 

 man disfigured it with hammer or chisel 

 but a party of human beings had been there 

 ladies perhaps. The rocks far around 

 were strewn with lobster- and egg-shells, 

 crusts of bread and bits of various provisions, 

 a tin can or two, and a great greasy news- 

 paper that had wrapped the whole. 



I stood transfixed. The place was utterly 

 defiled. One half hour's visit from a thought- 

 less party had destroyed the charm of a 

 month's study. I turned and left, and visited 

 it no more. So long afterward as the next 

 June I approached it with hesitation, fearing 

 that not even the storms of winter, the nine 

 months of rain and wind and seas, had puri- 

 fied it from that half hour's occupation. 



Is not that a strange phase of human 

 nature the spirit of lawlessness which 

 seizes many of us in the country? Persons 

 at home honest, well-bred, and thoughtful in 

 dealing with others, suddenly blossom out 

 into devastators and thieves. It may not be 

 money or jewels that excite their cupidity, 



