Footprints on the Sea-Shore (From "Twice Told Tales")Hawthorne, Nathaniel
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Footprints on the Sea-Shore (From "Twice Told Tales")
Hawthorne, Nathaniel
Historical fiction, American; New England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Short stories
once; two hit the walls athwart, while one rushes straight through,
and all three thunder, as if with rage and triumph. They heap the
chasm with a snow-drift of foam and spray. While watching this scene,
I can never rid myself of the idea that a monster, endowed with life
and fierce energy, is striving to burst his way through the narrow
pass. And what a contrast, to look through the stormy chasm, and
catch a glimpse of the calm bright sea beyond!
Many interesting discoveries may be made among these broken cliffs.
Once, for example, I found a dead seal, which a recent tempest had
tossed into the nook of the rocks, where his shaggy carcass lay rolled
in a heap of eel-grass, as if the sea-monster sought to hide himself
from my eye. Another time, a shark seemed on the point of leaping
from the surf to swallow me; nor did I wholly without dread approach
near enough to ascertain that the man-eater had already met his own
death from some fisherman in the bay. In the same ramble, I
encountered a bird,--a large gray bird,--but whether a loon, or a wild
goose, or the identical albatross of the Ancient Mariner, was beyond
my ornithology to decide. It reposed so naturally on a bed of dry
sea-weed, with its head beside its wing, that I almost fancied it
alive, and trod softly lest it should suddenly spread its wings
skyward. But the sea-bird would soar among the clouds no more, nor
ride upon its native waves; so I drew near, and pulled out one of its
mottled tail-feathers for a remembrance. Another day, I discovered an
immense bone, wedged into a chasm of the rocks; it was at least ten
feet long, curved like a cimeter, bejewelled with barnacles and small
shell-fish, and partly covered with a growth of sea-weed. Some
leviathan of former ages had used this ponderous mass as a jawbone.
Curiosities of a minuter order may be observed in a deep reservoir,
which is replenished with water at every tide, but becomes a lake
among the crags, save when the sea is at its height. At the bottom of
this rocky basin grow marine plants, some of which tower high beneath
the water, and cast a shadow in the sunshine. Small fishes dart to
and fro, and hide themselves among the sea-weed; there is also a
solitary crab, who appears to lead the life of a hermit, communing
with none of the other denizens of the place; and likewise several
five-fingers,--for I know no other name than that which children give
them. If your imagination be at all accustomed to such freaks, you
may look down into the depths of this pool, and fancy it the
mysterious depth of ocean. But where are the hulks and scattered
timbers of sunken ships? where the treasures that old Ocean
hoards?--where the corroded cannon?--where the corpses and skeletons
of seamen, who went down in storm and battle?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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