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 Copyright, 1892, by Fanny D. Sweeny. 
 
 Printed bv J. B. Lippincott Comp 
 
BAY LEAVES. 
 
A world of marsh that borders a world of sea, 
 
 Sinuous southward and sinuous northward the shimmering l)and 
 
 Of the sand-beach, fastens the fringe of the marsh to the folds of the land. 
 
 ********** 
 How ample the marsh, and the sea, and the sky ! 
 
 A league and a league of marsh grass, waist high, broad in the blade. 
 Stretch leisurely off in a pleasant plain, to the terminal blue of the main. 
 Oh, what is abroad in the marsh and the terminal sea? 
 Somehow my soul seems suddenly free from the weighing of fate. 
 
 ********** 
 Ye marshes, how candid and simple, and nothing-withholding, and free ; 
 Tolerant plains, that suffer the sea and the rains, and the sun. 
 Ye spread and span like the catholic man who hath mightily won 
 God out of knowledge, and good out of infinite pain. 
 
 And the sea lends large, as the marsh ; lo, out of his plenty the sea 
 
 Fours fast, full soon the time of the flood-tide must be ; 
 
 Look how the grace of the sea doth go 
 
 About and about through the intricate channels that flow 
 
 Here and there, 
 
 Everywhere — 
 
 Till his waters have flooded the uttermost creeks and the low-lying lanes, 
 
 And the marsh is washed with a million veins, 
 
 That like as with rosy and silvery essences flow. 
 
 In the rose and silver evening glow. 
 
 Suincy Lamer. 
 
BAY LEAVES. 
 
 N Island always pleases my im- 
 :^ao-ination, even the small- 
 
 est, as a small continent 
 
 |^K^»^^^^^^| ^ Jl JlJIIf""""* and integral portion of 
 
 ^mJ-^W^^^^^ ,f the globe. Even a bare, 
 
 grassy isle which I can 
 see over at a glance has some undefined and mys- 
 terious charm for me." 
 
 So felt one of Nature's enthusiasts, and so must 
 it have seemed to the man whose rugged face is 
 pictured here. 
 
 7 
 
This pioneer, Thomas Bond, has been but one of 
 many that have found this narrow strip of shining- 
 sand, with its meadows stretching to the bay, a 
 restful place, and can say, " Here give me health 
 and a day and I make the pomp of emperors 
 ridiculous." 
 
 A bare, grassy isle in truth, but the weeds have 
 virtues to be given to those that seek, and it is gain 
 " to w^in the secret of a weed's plain heart." 
 
 We may think, as did David Copperfield on his 
 visit to Yarmouth, " If the world was really as round 
 as his geography book said, how any part of it came 
 to be so flat." 
 
 The island is separated from "the main" by a 
 strong arm of the sea, as if Ocean jealously guarded 
 the lonely land in its orphanage. From remote time, 
 
 9 
 
known, but unsought, unappreciated, it has rested 
 between the bay and the ocean. 
 
 Its long stretches of meadow, the haunt of the 
 
 wild-fowl, and Nature's wild music, the scream of 
 
 birds, the wailing of the winds, and the " roar 
 
 of waters steady, deep, and strong," the only har- 
 
 , monies. 
 
 This long, low, seemingly barren isle, plain, with 
 no distinction, has fascinations. Yes, sphinx-like, she 
 hath her riddle to be read, and we it is that lack 
 both open eye and ear. But, some day, when we 
 stand, with only sky, and wave, and shore, "bathed 
 in the blithe air and uplifted by infinite space, all 
 mean egotism vanishes," and the secret is ours. 
 
 Color, form, and sound, will reveal to us their 
 myriad beauty, and we will know that Nature's 
 13 
 
manuscript may be read here as clearly and as 
 deeply as in any other place. 
 
 She melted int<j jmrple cloudy 
 She silvered in the moon, 
 She spired into a yellow flame, 
 She flowered in blossom red, 
 She floweth into a foaming wave. 
 
 
This green ribbon of land called "Long Beach" 
 rises scarcely above die sea, except for die dunes 
 of sand stretching from Brigantine to Barnegat. A 
 weak sea-wall against the waters that beat with 
 bitter force along twenty miles of coast line. Here 
 upon the outlying shore lurk hidden dangers, here 
 are tossed the gifts of sea and shell, and, upon the 
 high billows, sometimes is brought a sad freightage, 
 which brave men strive in vain to rescue and give 
 back to life. When the stroller, on a fair day, look- 
 ing towards Barnegat, sees the mirage near the 
 coast, the thouMit comes of the forces of nature 
 surrounding the .treacherous shore, to warn or lure ? 
 
 In marked contrast to the sublime sea, with its 
 untamable strength, is the serene beauty of the bay. 
 Looking to the west as the sun retires into its " tent 
 17 
 
^^ 
 
 19 
 
of dropping clouds," one has a vision of wonderful 
 color, and we know diat die beauty of die landscape 
 is our inheritance. Each foot of soil, as some one 
 says, may have its "warranty deed," strong and 
 true, but this all-pervading beauty is mine, is 
 yours. 
 
 The land is not barren, a mere sandy beach. 
 The surface is covered with vegetation, except a 
 marginal line of white, shining sand, whose brilliancy 
 has been commented upon as unusual. 
 
 The Bay-berry covers the soil from sea to 
 meadow ; countless swallows, garrulous beneath their 
 roof of bay, make these bushes their resting place. 
 The uprising of these birds in the early morning, 
 with their swift, glancing wings cut against the sky, 
 make a line picture of singular beauty. That 
 
sovereign naturalist, Dr. Leidy, who knew of 
 the rich botanical resources 
 
 of this little isle '^^/--^^^^■■'^^W^^^' 
 
 as no one else, woul/have 4^:v^M'^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 named the bay-berry, 
 
 or candle-berry as it c^^SCf' 
 
 is called further south, a 
 
 species of the wax- myrtle. li 
 
 The same plant, Kalm in- ^^^ 
 
 forms us, from the berries 
 
of which the early settlers obtained a wax to make 
 candles and an agreeable-smelling soap. 
 
 Thoreaii says that in Beverley's "History of 
 Virginia," published in 1705, mention is made of the 
 myrtle, and how the settlers made a hard, britde 
 wax from it : 
 
 '* Of this they make candles which are never 
 greasy to the touch, nor melt with lying in the 
 hottest weather, neither does the snuff of them 
 ever offend the smell like that of a tallow candle, 
 but, instead of being disagreeable, it yields a pleasant 
 fragrance to all that are in the room, insomuch that 
 nice people often put them out on purpose to have 
 the incense of the expiring snuff!" 
 
 The bay bushes have such a sturdy quality, that 
 no burning of the undergrowth, or cutting to the 
 25 
 
earth, will eradicate them. When the leaves and 
 tender shoots are bruised, the stimulating fragrance 
 suggests the odor of the West India Bay. 
 
 From early spring until late autumn some Hower 
 with new beauty may be found, many nameless to 
 the chance stroller, others favorites of all time. The 
 briar-rose making the wayside glow, the primrose 
 and the pink stars of the sebacea covering the 
 meadow-land. A wild garden from which one may 
 choose their favorite. Here, in the shadow of the 
 dune, resting under the wide-spreading branches of 
 the wild-plum, laden with its many-tinted fruit, one 
 may stretch out their hand and gather roses, the 
 lilies not far away. Near, in a nook, is a pool of 
 water, clear and sweet, bordered by the golden rod, 
 the iris, and many a tiny flower. In the distance, 
 27 
 
on the west, is the shore-line ; between are miles of 
 rippHng tinted waters, with the yachts (lacking only 
 in picturesqueness the coloring of the sails of 
 foreign boats) seeking blue inlets, and with their 
 crews of merry men finding fast the riches for which 
 the bay is noted. 
 
 Who would sigh for another scene, but the rest- 
 less, discontented one, or the one who is unwilling 
 to fling the load of custom down, " like drift-weed 
 on the sand-slopes brown." 
 
 We may eat the lotus here if we wish, 
 
 "Where the soft, spreading down 
 Sinks away to the sea, 
 That has crept from the lea ; 
 Crept so quiet and slow, 
 That the marsh scarce can know 
 Be it water or land, 
 So thick the reeds stand. 
 
 31 
 
"And the great crimson sun 
 Drops slow down the sky, 
 Where vast meadows lie 
 Washed warm in the flush ; 
 There, through the world's hush, 
 Earth's sweet, solemn speech 
 Our faint sense may reach, 
 With its tale of one more day's fate done. 
 
 3^ 
 
^ HIS locality has its stories. One 
 gifted with the keenness of in- 
 sight and the simplicity of style 
 that such work needs, may here 
 find materials for character study. 
 The flotsam of the sea, a sug- 
 gestive of histories that require but 
 little imagination to weave them into 
 forms both weird and sad. 
 There are even tales of buried treasure. Several 
 years ago, near the "Three Cedars," the point where 
 
 35 
 
j(|^. the old inlet used to exist, but now filled in 
 
 by the sea, digging was 
 
 begun by determined- 
 
 dil-'^— /^^ - ^*W^"^^^^^ „ lookino- men, 
 
 ^^' " who used old 
 
 Spanish charts to guide 
 
 '^J^i \\ ^^^^""^ ""* their operations. 
 
 While at work they were 
 
 surprised by men from 
 
 37 
 
Bond's Life-Saving Station," and hastily left, leaving 
 (iT" an old sword, which showed that it had 
 been taken from the earth but re- 
 
 cently. But for this fact one might 
 " > believe the story a myth. 
 
 ^4*^ 
 
 itT^x%J 
 
 No deed of sea-king can be 
 told and verified, but there are 
 many oft-related tales of the lawless (1^ ^^) 
 
 39 
 

 "km v^ 
 
 ' mm ~ 
 
 m m 
 
operations on the Barnegat shores in past years. 
 Wrecks were then frequent, and spoils from heavily- 
 freighted ships most valuable. Now the Light- 
 
 « 
 
 House, one of the best equipped on the Atlantic 
 Coast, and the "Life-Saving Stations," at distances 
 of five miles, give protection. 
 
 One creature, sole survivor from an ill-fated 
 vessel, deserves to have an item of notice. This 
 
 lonely kitten, from the far-off " Isle of Man," was 
 found clinging to a spar one early morning after a 
 
 43 
 
storm. But this is "a tale that cannot be told;" 
 the absence of tail proved her pedigree, and her 
 descendants, canny Manx cats, with tortoise-shell 
 markings, are found in many places on the island. 
 
 45 
 
This little isle has c^^^^'^^''^^^ Q\~^*/\ 
 
 for many years formed 
 
 C^,.T^ .^,^M..^ 
 
 t>^ 
 
 the happy hunting o;-rounds for '^^^y~ 
 sportsmen. In its early history, fi'W^m 
 
 the deer from the mainland were v^ ' 
 
 c: 
 
 tracked across the shallower parts of the C;^ 
 bay and there captured. The larger game has long 
 since ceased to exist ; but the sport afforded by both 
 water and marsh for fishing and gunning is still as 
 great, and added to this is the deep-sea fishing, that 
 most exciting of sports. 
 
 47 
 
Here the blue-fish, at certain seasons, are caught 
 in quantities, and one cannot but speculate, if the 
 effort and appliances were greater, a Beach Haven 
 blue-fish might become as well known as a Yarmouth 
 bloater. Thousands of this most edible fish are 
 caught without effort. 
 
 In the case of the Yarmouth and Scotch fisheries, 
 according to statistics, there are more than one 
 thousand vessels and eight thousand men employed, 
 and the nets used by the combined fisheries are 
 long enough to reach from Liverpool to New York 
 four times. Neither the herrine nor the mackerel 
 is superior to the blue-fish properly prepared, and 
 although the supply in the case of this fish would 
 never be as great, yet its superior quality might 
 yet make it a limited industry. 
 
 49 
 
But why suggest industry ; seemingly there is 
 no need. All wants may be supplied without great 
 effort, and labor, with its primeval curse, may be 
 thought of as not existing. Here Nature spreads 
 a dainty table for man's physical needs, and one 
 may only spend a June or a September to find the 
 higher wants of his beincr in their fullness, and 
 realize the gracious bounty of this little isle, giving 
 of "her wealth, which is health." 
 
.-]7~\E-0UTLriNG-C0A^T 
 
1-^ 
 
 f^.\^ 
 
 V 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 208 540 9