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THE FROZEN SHORE 



(FRESHWATER CLIFFS) 



IN the winter storms the sea-fowl ascend the rivers 

 inland, and the land-birds seek the coast. In this, each 

 kind acts according to knowledge : the sea-fowl, because 

 they are truly birds of the sea, seeking their home on 

 the deep and their living on the great waters, which are 

 then too troubled and tempestuous to yield either food 

 or shelter ; and the land-birds because they know that 

 along the tide-way the salt-water kills the frost. 

 Twice daily the mellow tide advances to undo the work 

 of the encroaching frost, which has followed the ebb 

 over shingle, sand, and rocks. Rivers are not the sole 

 avenues by which the sweet waters reach the sea. 

 Thousands of little land-springs, invisible in the 

 summer droughts, trickle from the cliffs, oozing and 

 dripping on to the fringe of boulders and large shingle 

 which lies furthest from the sea, and meander down in 

 channels cut between the sands till lost in the pools left 

 by the ebb. Icicles soon form on the bents and 

 brambles which overhang the channels where the rills 

 leave the base of the cliff, and a film of white and 



