I50 THE OCEAN 



first chapters were written countless millions 

 of years ago, yet Old Ocean has not yet fin- 

 ished its book, but day in and day out is add- 

 ing new pages to its history. 



The greatest portion of the ocean's story is 

 written upon its shores and at any time, if you 

 walk along the seashore, you may see the wind 

 and waves, the bits of flotsam and jetsam and 

 the countless tiny marine animals busily writ- 

 ing and illustrating the story of the sea. 



We speak of the shores of the sea as if they 

 were hard and fast boundaries, but in reality 

 the shores are not constant and everywhere 

 they are ceaselessly changing, so that what is 

 the shore to-day may not be the shore at all 

 in a short time, and in the sea's story each of 

 these changes is carefully and indelibly re- 

 corded and forms a paragraph, a page or a 

 chapter. 



Wherever the sea meets the land there are 

 shores of some sort. In one spot they may be 

 smooth, almost level sand-beaches, at another 

 they may be rough, rugged and rocky, at an- 

 other the clififs may rise abruptly from the 

 waves, while at still another place broad, 



