There Are Dreary Bluffs Of Sand And Valleys Ploughed
By The Wind, Where You Might Expect To Discover The Bones Of A
Caravan.
Schooners come from Boston to load with the sand for
masons' uses, and in a few hours the wind obliterates all traces
of their work.
Yet you have only to dig a foot or two anywhere
to come to fresh water; and you are surprised to learn that
woodchucks abound here, and foxes are found, though you see not
where they can burrow or hide themselves. I have walked down the
whole length of its broad beach at low tide, at which time alone
you can find a firm ground to walk on, and probably Massachusetts
does not furnish a more grand and dreary walk. On the seaside
there are only a distant sail and a few coots to break the grand
monotony. A solitary stake stuck up, or a sharper sand-hill than
usual, is remarkable as a landmark for miles; while for music you
hear only the ceaseless sound of the surf, and the dreary peep of
the beach-birds.
There were several canal-boats at Cromwell's Falls passing
through the locks, for which we waited. In the forward part of
one stood a brawny New Hampshire man, leaning on his pole,
bareheaded and in shirt and trousers only, a rude Apollo of a
man, coming down from that "vast uplandish country" to the main;
of nameless age, with flaxen hair, and vigorous, weather-bleached
countenance, in whose wrinkles the sun still lodged, as little
touched by the heats and frosts and withering cares of life as a
maple of the mountain; an undressed, unkempt, uncivil man, with
whom we parleyed awhile, and parted not without a sincere
interest in one another. His humanity was genuine and
instinctive, and his rudeness only a manner. He inquired, just
as we were passing out of earshot, if we had killed anything, and
we shouted after him that we had shot a _buoy_, and could see him
for a long while scratching his head in vain to know if he had
heard aright.
There is reason in the distinction of civil and uncivil. The
manners are sometimes so rough a rind that we doubt whether they
cover any core or sap-wood at all. We sometimes meet uncivil
men, children of Amazons, who dwell by mountain paths, and are
said to be inhospitable to strangers; whose salutation is as rude
as the grasp of their brawny hands, and who deal with men as
unceremoniously as they are wont to deal with the elements. They
need only to extend their clearings, and let in more sunlight, to
seek out the southern slopes of the hills, from which they may
look down on the civil plain or ocean, and temper their diet duly
with the cereal fruits, consuming less wild meat and acorns, to
become like the inhabitants of cities. A true politeness does
not result from any hasty and artificial polishing, it is true,
but grows naturally in characters of the right grain and quality,
through a long fronting of men and events, and rubbing on good
and bad fortune.
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