THE SEA

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9824, 22 November 1917, Page 7

THE SEA

FRIEND AND TEACHER OF MEN (By Walter Grcig.) Next to tiie sky, which .provides an cvcr-changing panorama, a diurnal drop-scene painted with gorgeous moving pictures, designed solely for the delectation of humanity, whatever nton of science 'may say, the sea is a perennial source of yonder and delight to the lover of Nature. Ono gets to love the sea in all its moods: ‘‘Calm or convulsed, in breeze, in gale, or storm.'’ The mind, which is torn by doubt, anxiety, and the petty worries that fill up man's daily life, can get infinite solace, rich lessons, enduring comfort from the sea- The sea is on his own level; it does not ask him to lift his eyes upward like the everlasting lulls and the solemn, changing sky. It sympathises with Dis moods: it is tangible, restless, changeable, yet ever the same; a tame picture of human life that assumes many shapes in the course of the ages, yet remains the same in substance.

The man whose privilege it is to live by the sea comes to look upon it as a comrade. True, there is a mystery about the sea; something deep and unfathomable in the background; but the soa. is no enemy of man; it comes up to his very doorstep, calm, genial, benign, willing to hold conversation with him.. In the nooks and creeks and rock-hound bays, the sea becomes domesticated, as it were; only now and then does the wind lash the waves into anger and the spirit of the storm ride upon the bosom of the, deep. But when tho winds are at rest in the ocean oaves, the sea becomes tranquil, and a little child may piny on its breast—“borne like a bubble onward' ’ in a cockle shell. THE SAD SEA WAVES.

There js something infinitely sad about the sea. I use the word sea- to denote that part of the ocean within the landsman's ken. To the man who lives by the sea-, . the . pathos of the ever-recurring tides, the advancing and retreating waves,, is apparent • one wave succeeds another, just as thoughts in the mind of man. Those ivJiUcorestad waves that come hastening towards the shore seem like ocean-bound sprites that hold out appealing white arms to the firm-set earth. But the edict has gone forth: “Hitherto shaft thou come, but no further, and here, shall thy proud waves bo stayed." The calm, glassy surface of the sea, tm-ciuoiso-in colour, or, as the sun shines upon it, looking like molten silver, suggests a mirror. Hero all things in earth and heaven can see their just reThis is an effect often seen whan Nature is in a restful mood, and, the thoughtful wanderer realises the truth of Byron’s words as he first comes within sight of the sen, after a. walk along -a dusty road/ and sees stretch before him this typo of infinity—“the image of. Eternity, the throne of the Invisible”—

‘‘There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore. There is society where none intrudes By the deep Sea, and music in its

roar-; 1 love not man the less hut Nature

more From these our interviews, in which I steal From all I may be or have been before, To mingle with the Universe and feel, Whait X can. ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.” THE UN CREATED SEA.

The sea raises thoughts in the mind too deep for utterance; yet in all ages groat men have testified to their love of this marvel of creation which has changed less in the course of time than tho rocks on which aro written in strange hieroglyphics the history of Nature. ‘Tn tho 'beginning,” it is written. "God created the heavens and tho earth,” not the sea. , Tho earth was without form and void and darkness lay upon tho face of The Deep. Thus did the primitive writer suggest that The Deep was uncreated; a prime element, for did he not say .that the spirit of God 'moved upon tho face of the waters P So does tho spirit of God move, upon the face of the waters today, giving to Old Ocean that wondrous sense of ineffable mystery which jooots have tried in vain to suggest, idan has conquered the earth and is about to subdue the kingdom of the sky; the ocean has never yielded dominion to him, but baa remained proud, unconquerable, a dark, rebellious flouting the authority of man, teaching him stern lessons from time to time of tho invincibility of time and tide. But how pleasant it is to see a glimpse of bine sea through a landscape, from a height, or through tall .trees in the distance. It suggests thoughts that are tranquil; there is no hint of tragedy or terror, none of the horrors of mid-ocean when angry spirits move upon the face of Tho Deep, bringing death in their trail and confronting the mariner with the truth so easilv forgotten by the landsman that in the midst of life wo are in death. A TYPE OF LIFE. The saa suggests Life—Life in all its fullness and richness and variety. From the sea sprang the primal .protoplasm, in weird, ungainly forms, that peopled tho plastic earth, scarce less liquid than tho waters before the dry land appeared and grass sprang forth at the word of command from the WorldCreator.

“Even from out thy slime the monsters of the deep are made.” Wonderful source of life, the first cradle of man, and often his tomb. What marvels are hidden on thy watery (bed?•■• The oaves of the genii contain not wonders like to thine; nothing in the earth’s strata or surface but lias its counterpart in the depths of th© ocean. This wonderland is still unexplored; but Science, which has enabled man to soar into the heavens like a bird will yet give him power to explore the deep caverns of the sea and bring its treasure to earth. When that day comes the eea will not he less mysterious, hut man will have learned the troth of Hamlet’s sago remark: “There aro more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt or in your philosophy.” There are more wonders liidd&n by the ocean than are wot of by Science^—a whole world of romance and wonder and awe and delight to be laid bare to the eyes of the curious who live a few hundred years hence. The sea has been too terrible hitherto for man, who loves the light; he has not dared to trust himself too long to the depth's the mysterious sea. T? ichard Jefferies, one of the truest observers and most ardent worshippers of Nature, in his soul-history, “The Story of My Heart,” says simply,

at one point o£ his story: “It '"’as very hitter for me to leave the sea.” All who love the sea know what is contained in these few words. “Let me launch forth,” ho says again, and sail o’er the rim of the sea yonder, and when another rim arises over that, and again and onwards into an ever-widening ocean of idea and life. For with all tho strength of the wave, and its succeeding wave, the depth and race of the tide, tho clear definition of the sky; with all the_subtle power of the groat sea, there rises an equal desire- Give me life strong and full as tho brimming ocean; give me thought's wide as its plain; give me a soul beyond these. Sweet is the bit■Jer aea by tho shore, where the faint blue pebblc s are lapped by the greengray wave, where the wind-quivering foam is loath to leave the lashed stone. Sweet is the bitter sea, and the clear green in which the gaze seeks the aoul, looking through the glass into itself. Tho sea thinks for me as 1 listen and ponder; the sea thinks, and every boom of the wave reflects my prayer.”

Nothing washes tho artificiality out of tho soul of a man, and cleanses him through and through, like contact with the sun and the sea. To bathe m tho sea and to lie in the sun, apart from the healthful effects on the physical system, arc exceedingly beneficial to tlio soul. The bather takes off his worldly cares and the trials of along with his clothes. Ho plunges into tho surf, on which the sun’s rays dance, and ho sees the irridescence m the spray. He loses cfff.itact with earth for a while; ho revels in tho wild .joy of life that belongs to the denizens of the deep. To swim is to feel for a time a new life; man goes back like a flash of lightning to tho dim ages of the past and lives Lie life of his strange, amphibious ancestors, ; who crawled out of tho slimy occan-bed in search of adventure tho spongy, herb-bearing earth. h or the time being lie is a healthy animal, tasting animal joys, animal delights; feeling as if ho had escaped from a close confinement, like a caged bird let loose, winging its way to its native noods again. Great is tho magic touch of the sea; it heals up sores

and removes many wrinkles and gives youth again to age for a brief season. “And I have loved thee, OcohriTdnd my Joy , .7'7.7.71,71-7 , Of youthful sports was on thy breast to bo Borne, like thy bubbles, onward; from a boy X wantoned with thy breakers; they to mo Were a delight; and .if. the freshening sea Made them a terror —’twas a pleasing fear.- . 1,,’ . For I was, as it were, a child or to thy billows far and near, And laid my hand upon thy mane—as I do bore.”