STILL WATERS 
and are not so blue as the ocean; but the 
beaches, the rocks, the dunes of the shore, the 
break of the waves, the reach of the sky, are 
substantially the same as those of the greater 
body. 
Now a lake is, or at least should be considered, 
a body of water surrounded by land, and the 
name should never be applied to a body of wa- 
ter so large that land can from any point be lost 
to view. <A sea is, or should be considered, 
another body of water surrounded by Jand, but 
so large that one does not feel its confining 
shores. An ocean is, or should be considered, a 
sea of such expanse that it is not surrounded by 
land, but rather seems to surround the land. 
The fundamental distinction here is, of course, 
one of size, the lake being a reservoir for a range 
of hills, and the ocean a reservoir for the whole 
earth. But this matter of size has great influ- 
ence upon our tastes and preferences. We 
have, perhaps, a dread of the ocean, because it 
seems so vast and incomprehensible ; but we 
are fond of the lake because it is small enongh 
to be readily grasped by the imagination. The 
ocean in its mystery and indefinite reach has 
about it the breath of the sublime, but the lake 
in its simplicity is merely beautiful and charm- 
Definitions, 
Lakes vs. 
oceans. 
