AT THE SEASIDE. 23 



oar, being nearly swamped by a passing steamer, running down 

 a choleric fisherman's boat and being pursued by him with an 

 abundance of bad language and imprecations these and the 

 like adventures bring out in boys presence of mind and courage, 

 a sense of power, and the habit of self-reliance, which prove 

 invaluable in after-life. On every account he is a wise parent 

 who annually takes his boys to the sea. Let him surfer their 

 sisters to roam with them, torn-boys for the nonce, by sandy 

 cove and rocky pool, gathering flowers, wetting their feet, and 

 drinking in health at every pore, and he may laugh at doctors 

 and fear not consumption, the Moloch to whom so many 

 English youths and maidens are annually sacrificed. The 

 frdulein need not accompany the girls ; duets and marches 

 may very well be left behind, for they are obtaining an educa- 

 tion in outdoor life and gymnastic (as the Greeks called the 

 arts which aim at ensuring bodily perfection) ; these, during 

 our brief summer, should be permittted altogether to banish 

 the intellectual claims which that people knew as music. For 

 the same reason late hours and excitement ought to be rigidly 

 interdicted at the seaside. 



As for the golden days of youth by the sea, who shall ven- 

 ture to paint their pleasures ? What noble hopes are then 

 cherished ; what high ambitions, what grand purposes enter- 

 tained ! Life and the world and renown, with all their specious 

 power and promise, lie before the young man. He has never 

 known defeat hitherto, when he has once set his heart on any- 

 thing, never been baffled in his plans. More potent trian 

 Archimedes, he feels that he holds in his hand the lever which 

 will move the universe. Happy they who have a father at this 

 dangerous period to check them in their extravagant longings, 

 to teach them that power and genius must be directed to one 

 point, not dissipated on manifold ends. Multitudes make ship- 

 wreck of the fairest prospects for want of sustained effort in 

 one field of thought. So many foes are leagued against this 



