lo BEACH GRASS 



so the dune-lover shapes his form in the sand, 

 hollowing places for his shoulders and hips. Ly- 

 ing thus in his mold, securely wrapt in his 

 blanket, on the crest of a dune wave, he sees the 

 sun set, the blue eclipse of the sky by the earth 

 rise in the East, and the pink glow overhead and 

 in the West gradually fade. Swallows in strag- 

 gling bands and in great multitudes, hastening to 

 their night roost, skim close by, sometimes within 

 a hair's breadth of his face. The dark, ungrace- 

 ful forms of night herons pass over with slow 

 wing-flaps and discordant croaks, and the stars 

 come out until the whole vault of heaven is 

 aglow. Those who dwell in caves, in deep can- 

 yons or in rooms in city streets, know not the 

 brilliancy of the heavens as revealed to those 

 who lie out under the stars. They know not : 



''The silence that is in the starry sky. 

 The sleep that is among the lonely hills''' 



The laughing cry of the loon comes to his ears 

 from the sea and the noisy clamor of a great 

 company of herring gulls, gossiping with each 

 other as they settle down for a night on the 



