After a hard day’s work, nothing is more refreshing
than a quiet walk along the shore of the sea. While the exercise is good for
our bodies, the presence of the ocean seems to have a peculiarly tranquillizing
influence upon our minds. Every sight and sound inspires a spirit of rest and
peacefulness: and the effect is enhanced by the absence of the sights and sound
to which we have been exposed throughout the day. It is a delightful change,
after escaping from the noisy bustle of our daily work, to hear the ceaseless
music of the waves, and to breathe the fresh sea-breezes instead of the
vitiated atmosphere of office or class-room.
During our walk along the margin of the sea we
enjoy the view of the broad expanse of waters spread out before our eyes. an
unfailing source of delight to any one capable of appreciating the beauties of
nature. For the ocean in all its changeling moods never ceases to be beautiful,
and is especially beautiful at the hour of sunset. The spectacle presented by
the setting sun, as it sinks beneath the ocean wave, is one of the greatest
charms of an evening walk by the seashore. In Pakistan for the greater part of
the year, the clouds. Whose fantastic shapes and brilliant hues add so much to
the beauty of an English sunset, are wanting. But even in a cloudless sky. When
the broad sun is sinking down, in his tranquillity” and “the gentleness of
heaven is on the sea,” the spectacle presented to the eye is full of clam
beauty. For some time after the sun has set, the sky is suffused with delicate
tints of colour, until the first stars begin to appear on its darkening surface,
and day finally gives place to night. In the beginning and the end of the
monsoon we have splendid specimens of cloudy sunset, such as surpass the most
vivid description given by English poets, and would, If faithfully depicted on
canvas, be condemned as exaggerated representations of nature. At this time of
year, while the evening sky is still of an intense blue, the clouds are tinged
with gold, and purple, and all the colours of the rainbow, and the sea beneath
repeat the brilliant colouring of the sky and the could above.
From such a revelation of the beauties of nature
the poor man derives as much pleasure as the choicest collection of paintings
and sculptures and other works of art affords to the millionaire. Indeed, when
we look with re errant awe upon the sea and sky at the hour of sunset, it does
not me strange to us that the great. Powers of nature were once worshipped as
gods; and the tranquillizing effect that the sea, especially in the evening, has
upon the spectator. Enables us to understand how the ancients found it natural
to go to the shore and pour out their sorrows to the sea, when the hearts were
overburdened with care and no mortal being seemed capable of giving
consolation. Wordsworth, he great English poet, felt and beautifully expressed
this in his sonnet beginning. “The world is too much with us,” in which he
mourned the fact that most people had lost the power of appreciating the beauty
of nature, by giving themselves up to business and worldly pleasure -- “late
and soon.
Getting and spending we lay waste our powers.” He
ends with his passionate outburst of desire for the old Greek love and
reverence for nature. Great God! I’d rather be A pagan suckled in a creed
outworn, -- So might I, standing on this pleasant lea. leave glimpses that
would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Protest rising from the sea: or hear
old Nutrition blow his wreathed horn.”