Page:Scenes in my Native Land.pdf/251

Rh Which gives the elastic nerves a freer play, And tints the languid cheek with hues of health.

The sand-beach and the sea! Who can divine Their mystic intercourse, that day and night Surceaseth not? On comes the thundering surge, Lifting its mountain-head, with menace stern, To whelm the unresisting; but impelled In all the plenitude of kingly power To change its purpose of authority. Breaking its wand of might, doth hurry back; And then, repenting, with new wrath return. Yet still that single, silvery line abides, Lowly, and fearless, and immutable. God gives it strength. So may He deign to grant The sand-line of our virtues, power to cope With all temptation. When some secret snare Doth weave its meshes round our trembling souls, That in their frailty turn to Him alone, So may He give us strength.

Nahant is a rocky peninsula, stretching boldly into the ocean, and connected by beaches with the mainland. Some of its cliffs have an elevation of a hundred feet, and wonderfully excavated rocks are the boundary of its shores.

Tradition reports that its name was derived from