_THE SEA-SHORE._
The hotel carriage rolled away from Mr. Bradford's door with papa and
mamma, the two nurses and four little children inside, and such a lot
of trunks and baskets on the top; all on their way to Quam Beach. Harry
and Fred, the two elder boys, were to stay with grandmamma until their
school was over; and then they also were to go to the sea-side.
The great coach carried them across the ferry, and then they all jumped
out and took their seats in the cars. It was a long, long ride, and
after they left the cars there were still three or four miles to go
in the stage, so that it was quite dark night when they reached Mrs.
Jones's house. Poor little sick Bessie was tired out, and even Maggie,
who had enjoyed the journey very much, thought that she should be glad
to go to bed as soon as she had had her supper. It was so dark that the
children could not see the ocean, of which they had talked and thought
so much; but they could hear the sound of the waves as they rolled up
on the beach. There was a large hotel at Quam, but Mrs. Bradford did
not choose to go there with her little children; and so she had hired
all the rooms that Mrs. Jones could spare in her house. The rooms were
neat and clean, but very plain, and not very large, and so different
from those at home that Maggie thought she should not like them at all.
In that which was to be the nursery was a large, four-post bedstead
in which nurse and Franky were to sleep; and beside it stood an
old-fashioned trundle-bed, which was for Maggie and Bessie. Bessie was
only too glad to be put into it at once, but Maggie looked at it with
great displeasure.
"I sha'n't sleep in that nasty bed," she said. "Bessie, don't do it."
"Indeed," said nurse, "it's a very nice bed; and if you are going to be
a naughty child, better than you deserve. That's a great way you have
of calling every thing that don't just suit you, 'nasty.' I'd like to
know where you mean to sleep, if you don't sleep there."
"I'm going to ask mamma to make Mrs. Jones give us a better one," said
Maggie; and away she ran to the other room where mamma was undressing
the baby. "Mamma," she said, "won't you make Mrs. Jones give us a
better bed? That's just a kind of make-believe bed that nurse pulled
out of the big one, and I know I can't sleep a wink in it."
"I do not believe that Mrs. Jones has another one to give us, dear,"
said her mother. "I know it is not so pretty as your little bed at
home, but I think you will find it very comfortable. When I was a
little girl, I always slept in a trundle-bed, and I never rested
better. If you do not sleep a wink, we will see what Mrs. Jones can do
for us to-morrow; but for to-night I think you must be contented with
that bed; and if my little girl is as tired as her mother, she will be
glad to lie down anywhere."
Maggie had felt like fretting a little; but when she saw how pale and
tired her dear mother looked, she thought she would not trouble her by
being naughty, so she put up her face for another good-night kiss, and
ran back to the nursery.
"O, Maggie," said Bessie, "this bed is yeal nice and comf'able; come
and feel it." So Maggie popped in between the clean white sheets,
and in two minutes she had forgotten all about the trundle-bed and
everything else.
When Bessie woke up the next morning, she saw Maggie standing by the
open window, in her night-gown, with no shoes or stockings on. "O,
Maggie," she said, "mamma told us not to go bare-feeted, and you are."
"I forgot," said Maggie; and she ran back to the bed and jumped in
beside Bessie. "Bessie, there's such lots and lots of water out there!
You never saw so much, not even in the reservoir at the Central Park."
"I guess it's the sea," said Bessie; "don't you know mamma said we
would see water and water ever so far, and we couldn't see the end of
it?"
"But I do see the end of it," said Maggie; "mamma was mistaken. I saw
where the sky came down and stopped the sea; and, Bessie, I saw such a
wonderful thing,--the sun came right up out of the water."
"O, Maggie, it couldn't; _you_ was mistaken. If it went in the water it
would be put out."
"I don't care," said Maggie, "it _was_ the sun, and it is shining right
there now. It isn't put out a bit. I woke up and I heard that noise
mamma told us was the waves, and I wanted to see them, so I went to
look, and over there in the sky was a beautiful red light; and in a
minute I saw something bright coming out of the water away off; and it
came higher and higher, and got so bright I could not look at it, and
it was the sun, I know it was."
"But, Maggie, how didn't it get put out if it went in the water?"
"I don't know," said Maggie, "I'm going to ask papa."
Just then nurse and Jane came in with water for the children's bath,
and before they were dressed, there was papa at the door asking if
there were any little girls ready to go on the beach and find an
appetite for breakfast. After that, nurse could scarcely dress them
fast enough, and in a few moments they were ready to run down to the
front porch where papa was waiting for them.
"O, papa, what a great, great water the sea is!" said Bessie.
"Yes, dear; and what a great and wise God must He be who made this wide
sea and holds it in its place, and lets it come no farther than He
wills."
"Papa," said Maggie, "I saw the wonderfulest thing this morning."
"The most wonderful," said her father.
"The most wonderful," repeated Maggie. "It was indeed, papa, and you
need not think I was mistaken, for I am quite, quite sure I saw it."
"And what was this most wonderful thing you are so very sure you saw,
Maggie?"
"It was the sun, papa, coming right up out of the water, and it was not
put out a bit. It came up, up, away off there, where the sky touches
the water. Mamma said we could not see the end of the ocean, but I see
it quite well. Do not you see it, too, papa?"
"I see what appears to be the end of the ocean, but these great waters
stretch away for many hundred miles farther. If you were to get on a
ship and sail away as far as you can see from here, you would still
see just as much water before you, and the sea and the sky would still
appear to touch each other: and however far you went it would always be
so, until you came where the land bounds the ocean on the other side.
The place where the sky and water seem to meet, is called the horizon;
and it is because they do seem to touch, that the sun appeared to
you to come out of the water. It is rather a difficult thing for such
little girls as you and Bessie to understand, but I will try to make
it plain to you. You know that the earth is round, like a ball, do you
not, Maggie?"
"Yes, papa."
"And I suppose that you think that the sun is moving when it seems to
come up in the morning, and goes on and on, till it is quite over our
heads, and then goes down on the other side of the sky until we can see
it no more, do you not?"
"Yes, papa."
"But it is really the earth on which we live, and not the sun, which is
moving. Once in twenty-four hours, which makes one day and one night,
the earth turns entirely round, so that a part of the time one side is
turned to the sun, and a part of the time the other side. See if you
can find me a small, round stone, Maggie."
Maggie looked around till she found such a stone as her father wanted,
and brought it to him. "Now," he said, "this stone shall be our earth,
and this scratch the place where we live. We will take off Bessie's hat
and have that for the sun. Now I will hold the mark which stands for
our home, directly in front of our make-believe sun. If a bright light
were coming from the sun and shining on our mark here, it would be the
middle of the day or noon, while it would be dark on the other side.
Then, as our earth moved slowly around in this way, and we turned from
the sun it would become afternoon; and as we turned farther yet till
we were quite away from the sun, it would be night. But we do not stay
there in the dark, for we still go moving slowly round until our side
of the earth comes towards the light again, and the darkness begins to
pass away. The nearer we come to the sun the lighter it grows, until,
if some little girl who lives on our scratch is up early enough and
looks out at the horizon, or place where the earth and sky seem to
meet, she sees the sun showing himself little by little; and it looks
to her as if he were coming up out of the sea, while all the time the
sun is standing still, and the earth on which we live is moving round
so as to bring her once more opposite to him."
"And is it night on the other side of the world?" asked Maggie.
"Yes, there is no sun there now, and it is dark night for the little
children who live there."
"And are they going to have their supper while we have our brefix?"
asked Bessie.
"Just about so, I suppose," said papa.
"But, papa," said Maggie with very wide open eyes, "do you mean that
the world is going to turn way over on the other side tonight?"
"Yes, dear."
"Then we will fall off," said Maggie.
"Did you fall off last night?" asked papa.
"No, sir."
"And you have been living for nearly seven years, and every day of your
life the earth has turned around in the same way, and you have never
yet fallen off, have you?"
"No, papa."
"Nor will you to-night, my little girl. The good and wise God who has
made our earth to move in such a way as to give us both light and
darkness as we need them, has also given to it a power to draw towards
itself, all things that live or grow upon its surface. Do you know what
surface means?"
"Yes, papa,--the top."
"Yes, or the outside. Suppose you were to fall off the top of the
house, Maggie, where would you fall to?"
"Down in the street and be killed," said Maggie.
"Yes, down to the street or ground, and probably you would be killed.
And it is because of this power which the earth has of drawing to
itself all things that are upon it, that you would not fly off into the
air and keep on falling, falling, for no one knows how many miles. It
is too hard a thing for you to understand much about now, but when you
are older you shall learn more. But we have had a long enough lesson
for this morning. We will walk about a little, and see if we can find
some shells before we go in to breakfast."
They found a good many shells: some little black ones which Maggie
called curlecues, and some white on the outside and pink inside. Then
there were a few which were fluted, which the children said were the
prettiest of all. They thought the beach was the best playground they
had ever seen, and they were about right. First, there was the strip
of smooth, white sand, on which the waves were breaking into beautiful
snowy foam, with such a pleasant sound; then came another space full of
pebbles and stones and sea-weed, with a few shells and here and there
a great rock; then more rocks and stones with a coarse kind of grass
growing between them; and beyond these, a few rough fir trees which
looked as if they found it hard work to grow there. Last of all was a
long, sloping bank, on top of which stood Mr. Jones's house and two or
three others; and farther down the shore, the great hotel. And the air
was so fresh and cool, with such a pleasant smell of the salt water.
Maggie was full of fun and spirits, and raced about till her cheeks
were as red as roses. There were several other people on the beach, and
among them were some little boys and girls. Two or three of these, when
they saw Maggie running about in such glee began to race with her, but
the moment she noticed them she became shy and ran away from them to
her father and Bessie who were walking quietly along.
"Papa," said Bessie "isn't it delicious?"
"Is not what delicious, my darling."
"I don't know," said Bessie. "_It._ I like Quam Beach, papa. I wish New
York was just like this."
"It is this cool, fresh sea-breeze that you like so much, Bessie."
"And I like to see the water, papa, and to hear the nice noise it
makes."
"Yes, it's so pleasant here," said Maggie. "Let's stay here always,
papa, and never go home."
"What! and sleep in the trundle-bed all your lives?" said papa.
"Oh, no," said Maggie, "I hate that bed. I believe I _did_ sleep a
little bit last night, because I was so tired; but I know I can't sleep
in it to-night."
"Well," said papa, "I think we will try it for a night or two longer."
And then they all went in to breakfast.