A CALIFORNIA BEACH 



heartens me to think of them thus holding true 

 to the home-land year after year, let the wind 

 howl about them as it will. And because I once 

 saw them there I see them with the more pleas- 

 ure, and the more respect, as they flit before me 

 all the sunny winter long on our Santa Barbara 

 beach. 



Three quarters of the time at sea-level, and 

 the remaining quarter two or three miles above 

 it, so unevenly do they divide the year ; but 

 measured by what is done and enjoyed, the one 

 quarter may well count for more than the other 

 three. And if they are ever touched with home- 

 sickness, I believe it is on our zephyr-kissed 

 southern beaches and golf-links rather than on 

 those tempestuous northern mountain-tops. It is 

 good to think that for them as for us there are 

 joys that count for more than comfort. 



It has been noticed that a man who courts 

 solitude is apt to be more than commonly fond 

 of animal society. He may have carried his pe- 

 culiarity so far as to buUd a hermitage in the 

 wilderness for the purpose of living apart from 

 his fellows, but he can never have too much of 

 the company of rabbits and squirrels. Rats and 

 mice even are welcome ; and if a partridge leads 

 her brood past his door, he is happy in the recol- 



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