io6 BEACH GRASS 



At night when the moon is full, the ice-strewn 

 marshes have a strange and unearthly beauty. 

 One may wander over them as in a dream. The 

 sparkling ice, which almost obliterates the shad- 

 ows by its brilliant diffused light, makes an ex- 

 cursion at that time one long to be remembered. 

 Although everything seems as bright as day, the 

 brilliancy is deceptive and distances and objects 

 are difficult to judge and recognize. One may 

 suddenly step down several feet where all seemed 

 on the same plane. The brilliancy of the scene 

 at the full of the moon is so great that a photo- 

 graph may be taken which differs in no respect 

 from that of a daylight photograph. The ex- 

 posure needed, although longer, is surprisingly 

 short owing to the brilliant reflections from the 

 snow and ice. The accompanying plate is from 

 a seven minutes exposure taken at nine in the 

 evening. 



The large cakes of ice, stranded on the marsh 

 assume at times curious forms. At first of nearly 

 uniform thickness and rectangular on their 

 broken sides, they become rounded, cavernous or 

 arched and often take on strange and bizarre 



