ON THE BEACH AT DAYTONA. 59 
had come for a day’s picnic at the cottage. 
Things being as they were (eight women), 
she could hardly invite me to share the fes- 
tivities, and, with my best apology for the 
intrusion, I withdrew. 
Of one building on the sand-hills I have 
peculiarly pleasant recollections. It was not 
a cottage, but had evidently been put up as 
a public resort; especially, as I inferred, 
for Sunday-school or parish picnics. It was 
furnished with a platform for speech-making 
Gs there any foolishness that men will not 
commit on sea beaches and mountain tops? ), 
and, what was more to my purpose, was 
open on three sides. I passed a good deal 
of time there, first and last, and once it 
sheltered me from a drenching shower of 
an hour or two. The lightning was vivid, 
and the rain fell in sheets. In the midst of 
the blackness and commotion, a single tern, 
ghostly white, flew past, and toward the 
close a bunch of sanderlings came down the 
edge of the breakers, still looking for some- 
thing to eat. The only other living things 
in sight were two young fellows, who had 
improved the opportunity to try a dip in the 
surf. Their color indicated that they were 
