THE LESSON OF THE WAVE 



HE sea and the sky and the 

 shore were at perfect peace 

 on the day when the young gull 

 first launched into the air, and 

 flew outward over the green, 

 smooth ocean. Day after day his 

 parents had brought him fish and 

 squid, until his baby plumage fell from 

 him and his beautiful wing-feathers shot 

 forth, clean-webbed and elastic. His strong 

 feet had carried him for days over the ex- 

 panse of sand dunes and pebbles, and now and then he 



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