holiday-time at home, in the
midst of all their own belongings. They would prefer building houses
for their rabbits, enjoying the favorite walks of their childhood;
rowing on the neighboring river with their friends, even if they have
to put up, in the evening, with the inconvenience of having to hear
their sisters play the piano--a kind of inconvenience to which we are
all subject nowadays.

But no; they are packed off to lodgings at the seaside; and they think
that the sight of the sea and a few fishing-boats do not make up for
rickety chairs, springless sofas, empty rooms, cheerless walls, beds
stuffed with pebbles from the beach, and the loss of all home comforts
and associations.

* * * * *

If, as is the case in France, these boys were allowed to mix with those
they meet on the beach, and get up parties with them, life might be
made supportable; but, obliged as they are to keep to themselves, or to
the company of their brothers and sisters (some have none), they think
it was not necessary to come so far in search of boredom.

* * * * *

French and English beaches illustrate best to my mind the way in which
the two nations take their pleasures.

The French seem to set out for their holiday with a thorough
determination to enjoy themselves. When they go to the seaside they go
there on pleasure bound.

On French beaches every body makes acquaintance; the children play
together under the eyes of happy papas and mammas, the grown-up ones go
out in large parties bathing, boating, and fishing; and in the evening
all meet at the Casino, where there are ball-rooms, concert-rooms,
reading and smoking rooms, etc. No doubt many of the people you mix
with there are not such as you would wish to invite to your house on a
visit, but, the season over, these friends of a day are forgotten, and
there remains the benefit to health and spirits from a thorough merry
time.

In the English seaside resort, every bather looks askance at his
fellow.

"Who is he at home?" or "What was his grandfather?" are questions that
he must get satisfactorily answered before he associates with him; and
rather than run the risk of frequenting the company of persons of
inferior blood he is often bored to death with the monotony of the
life, and is glad when it is time to take the children back to school
or his own occupations call him away from the sea.

Dear