STILL WATERS 



176 



and are not so bine as the ocean ; bnt the 

 beaches, the rocks, the dunes of the shore, the 

 break of the waves, the reach of the sky, are 

 substantially the same as those of the greater 

 body. 



Now a lake is, or at least should be considered, 

 a body of water surrounded by land, and the 

 name should never be applied to a body of wa- 

 ter so large that land can from any point be lost 

 to view. A sea is, or should be considered, 

 another body of water surrounded by land, but 

 so large that one does not feel its confining 

 shores. An ocean is, or should be considered, a 

 sea of such expanse that it is not surrounded by 

 land, but rather seems to surround the land. 

 The fundamental distinction here is, of course, 

 one of size, the lake being a reservoir for a range 

 of hills, and the ocean a reservoir for the whole 

 earth. But this matter of size has great influ- 

 ence upon our tastes and preferences. We 

 have, perhaps, a dread of the ocean, because it 

 seems so vast and incomprehensible ; but we 

 are fond of the lake because it is small enough 

 to be readily grasped by the imagination. The 

 ocean in its mystery and indefinite reach has 

 about it the breath of the sublime, but the lake 

 in its simplicity is merely beautiful and charm- 



