mother, in all Ventnor. It is more curious even than the Downs."

"What is it ?" asked Mrs. Morelle.

"The beach, mother," said John eagerly. "The beach and bathing place. It is a very pretty place indeed. We want We want you to go down and see it this very afternoon."

It has already been said that the principal street of Ventnor was far up above the level of the sea, and though in passing through it a great many glimpses of the water could be seen between the houses, the immediate shore was no where in sight. It happened, however, that the children in rambling about had found their way down to what might be called the lower town.

There were two modes of access to 66 the Beach," as the place was usually called-one by a broad street, or rather road, which descended in a winding and zigzag way down the declivity through several little dells and valleys, and the other by a number of narrow passage-ways, which were formed by long flights of stone steps leading from one level to another among houses and gardens, until they came out close to the

sea.

The children took Mrs. Morelle down one of these passages. The passage was so long, and the flights of steps seemed to lead down so far,

that just as Florence in going up the path leading to the Downs was afraid she never could get down, so her mother in going down these stairways began to be afraid she never could get up.

Grimkie, however, told her it would not be necessary for her to mount all those steps again, but that there was a road by which she could come up which was of easy ascent, though the way was circuitous, and of course much longer.

When, at length, Mrs. Morelle reached the shore she was very much surprised at the specta

cle which there presented itself to view. There was a pretty broad and very fine beach, extending for some distance along the shore. The beach was not straight but somewhat curved, being concave toward the sea, and was terminated at each end by a projecting rocky proontory. This gave the beach a very sheltered and

snug appearance.

The beach was bordered on the land side by a low wall, with steps here and there leading down. Above the wall, and even with the top of it, was a street, which extended along the whole length of the beach, and parallel to it. On the opposite side of this little street was a row of neat and pretty houses, with front yards full of roses, and of other flowers such as only grow in hot houses in America, and gardens at

2

the sides of them and behind them. The houses were close to the foot of the steep slope down which the party had come by the zigzag passage way, and the gardens extended up this slope a little way on terraces built against the hill-side, with bowers and summer-houses here and there upon them at commanding points, and flights of stone steps leading from terrace to terrace to enable persons to ascend them.

"What a pretty place!" said Mrs. Morelle. "I did not know that there was any such place as this in Ventnor."

"Nor did we till we found it out ourselves," said Grimkie.

But the most remarkable part of the spectacle which here presented itself to the eyes of the party was the scene of life and movement which it every where exhibited. The beach was covered with parties of visitors-among which were groups of little children working in the sand with wooden shovels, pails and wheelbarrows, and older children rambling about in search of pebbles and shells, others collecting sea-weed from the rocks at the extremities of the beach, and others sitting quietly on the different seats along the shore, talking together, or knitting, or reading, or sewing. There was a long line of bathing machines, some of which were out in

the water, with the bathers swimming about near them, and others the men in charge of them were pulling in, by means of a rope wound round a capstan fixed in the shore near the wall.

There were groups of men in strange looking caps and outlandish dresses of coarse grey stuff, such as Englishmen affect when in such places, examining the vessels in the offing, or talking with young ladies, who wore their hair in deep nets, and had their heads covered with big straw hats, with broad brims curved downward all around, to protect their necks and faces from the

And yet after all, notwithstanding the mildness of the climate in Ventnor, and the fact that such tender plants will grow in the open air, there is not really sun enough to endanger the complexion of the young ladies to any great degree. The sky in England is almost always obscured by clouds and driving mists, even when it does not actually rain, and thus though the winters are very mild, so that the sheep even in Scotland get their living from pasturage almost all the year round, and the geranium and the fuschia and the passion-flower live in Ventnor in the open air, winter and summer, yet the sun is not powerful enough to ripen grapes, or Indian corn, any where.

And yet Indian corn and many kinds of grapes will ripen in the northern states of America where the thermometer sinks in winter so far below zero, that it is hard for the gardeners to keep their geraniums and passion-flowers alive even in their hot-houses and conservatories.

Mrs. Morelle was very much pleased with the beach, and with the lively scenes which presented themselves to view along the line of it, and in the street. The houses, too, on the other side of the street, looked very attractive. There were pretty yards in front of them, and piazzas and balconies opening upon the first and second stories, where people were sitting to enjoy the open air, and to observe what was going on upon the beach.

"Mother," said Florence, after they had walked about a few minutes, "what a beautiful place !"

"Yes," said Mrs. Morelle. place indeed."

It is a charming

"I wish we had come here instead of going to the hotel," said Florence.

"Do you ?" asked her mother. "It was you that decided the question what place we should come to."

"So I did, mother, but I did not know any thing about the beach. I only knew about the