LONGSHORE MEMORIES 193 
Little in the way of fine art reached us, beyond 
the gay pictures on the top of the pretty fruit and 
glove boxes brought for their mothers or sweethearts 
by those young sailors who had visited France or 
Holland. But though our folks had small book know- 
ledge, they learned much from nature direct. The 
four seasons brought to them little variation ; one 
year was to them the same as another. In spring 
the waders wakened up the flats to life, again, when 
they nested in their wonted grounds. The pewits 
ran about, taking little heed of man, woman, or child. 
One of their favourite breeding stations, I remember, 
was close to the most frequented track of the flats. 
The boys would give you the action of the snipe 
in breeding-time, as he mounts up piping, or, as they 
termed it, ' whinnying,' as well as the humming 
sound he makes in his descent. The action of the 
bird's wings they would make with the hands, as they 
imitated the bleat and the hum to the life. All 
the various cries and motions of the wildfowl they 
were familiar with ; from the quick, rocket-like spring 
of the teal to the heavy flap of the wild swan rising 
from the water, from the little grebe to the great 
sprat diver, they knew them all. 
The number of churches along the shore was re- 
markable, considering the thinly scattered population, 
O 
