CHAPTER IX 

 ALONG SHINING SHORES 



I hold that Old Tidewater Virginia is 

 the most fascinating spot on our planet. I 

 can prove it by the shorebirds, anyhow. 



When the migrating snipe have raised 

 their young in the far South, they come 

 north to spend the summer. Far up in the 

 sky, flying V-shaped, as the wild goose, the 

 curlew leads the way in April. With his keen 

 eye surveying from the heavens the glories 

 of the world, he sweeps over the wild beauty 

 of the tropics, calling now and then his silver 

 trumpet-note of command to his flock. 



But when he looks down from the clouds 

 and sees the thousand rivers, creeks, chan- 

 nels and solemn marshes of Old Tidewater 

 Virginia, his voice rings with joy, his wings 



