"[Illustration: N]OW for it, girls! Let me introduce you to the Atlantic
Ocean! Mr. Ocean, these are my three cousins from Kentucky: Miss Jenny,
Miss Eva, and Miss Kate Logan. They never saw you till today. This lady
on my left is my sister, Miss Dora Drake, the best swimmer at Brant Rock
Beach; but her you know already, also my dog Andy."
"Oh! I don't want to go any further. I'm afraid of the Atlantic Ocean,"
cried little Kate Logan.
"Nonsense!" said Master Tom Drake. "Look at Andy with the stick in his
mouth. Why, if the Atlantic Ocean were to try to drown us, Andy would
save us every one. Shall I tell you what he did last summer?"
"We can't stop for stories now, Tom," said sister Dora. "We must attend
to our bathing. Here comes a wave that will give us a good ducking."
"Oh! oh, dear! It has taken my breath all away!" cried little Kate, as
the wave lifted her off her feet and curled and gurgled round her neck.
"It is only the Atlantic Ocean making a bow to you, my dear; clasping
you lovingly round the neck, and whispering soft nonsense," said Tom,
dropping the hands of Eva and Kate, and swimming off into deep water
with Andy.
Jenny and Eva did not know how to swim: so they jumped up and down in
the water, while Dora took Kate on her back, and swam out after Tom. She
soon overtook him and pushed his head under water; but Tom came up light
as a cork, and splashed the water all over Dora.
"That will do, Tom," said she; "now, Andy, come here, and take this
little girl on your back and carry her up on the dry sand."
Then Dora placed Kate on the good dog's back, and the little girl threw
her arms round his neck, and he swam with her through the deep water,
and carried her up high on the dry, warm sand, where a lady and
gentleman were seated, and another lady stood with a sun-shade over her
head.
But when Kate saw Tom and the girls all frolicking in the water, she
cried out, "Oh, give me more of the Atlantic Ocean. I like him."
She ran down to the water's edge, and into the water all alone; but Andy
stood by to help her in case of need, and when she fell down flat, and
the ocean covered her head, he took her up by her bathing-dress, and
bore her once more up on the dry sand.
All laughed, and little Kate laughed louder than any of them. "The
Atlantic Ocean didn't get me that time," she said.
I cannot tell you of all their frolics; but you may be sure that the
little party from Kentucky grew quite familiar with the Atlantic Ocean
after this introduction. Every day they would leave their little cottage
on the height, and walk along the white sand in their bathing-dresses
till they found a good place for bathing. Tom and Andy always went with
them to protect them from harm.
When Jenny, Eva, and Kate get back to Kentucky, next September, what
stories they will have to tell of the pleasant times they had at Brant
Rock Beach! It lies not far from the town of Marshfield in
Massachusetts. Perhaps you can find the name on your map.