21/12/2024
THE Plaisance of Atiantic City is the Boardwalk, but, in winter time, on pleasant days, and in summer, when the Boardwalk is literally full of humanity, so full, indeed, that the crowd surges over on the side,
then it is that the Strand, either from choice or necessity, becomes an equally popular promenade. Up on the Boardwalk or down on the Strand the visitor may pass many delightful, dreamy hours.
The long stretch of sandy beach and the roar of the surf may be uninteresting to some upon a gloomy day, but when the sun is shining all dreariness disappears, the ocean sparkles like a huge diamond, and groups of people wander along the Strand or scoop out convenient hollows, in which they lie for hours, enjoying the warm sun-bath and inhaling ozone every breath.
Bevies of girls, dressed in dainty costumes,
are scattered about on the sand, and ripples of laughter come to one’s ears from every side.
Far out upon the horizon a
faint trace of smoke may be seen ascending from a passing steamer, while above the horizon and sometimes just beyond the surf the white wings of swift-sailing yachts or other craft lend a charm and a motion to the scene.
Nothing could add
to the quiet beauty of this scene or heighten the pleasure of those for whom it is created.
From morning until evening the beach is a perfect paradise
for children.
The youngsters take to digging in the sand and
paddling in the water by natural instinct, having unlimited opportunities for both. Every day they throw up fortifications, build mounds and excavate subterranean caverns, and every night the tide washes away all of their labor and leaves a soft. smooth surface for another day’s toil.