We saw one hardy bather dripping
up from the surf and seeking shelter among those that remained, but they
were mostly tenanted by their owners, who looked shoreward through their
open doors, and made no secret of their cozy domesticity, where they sat
and sewed or knitted and gossiped with their neighbors. Good wives and
mothers they doubtless were, but no doubt glad to be resting from the
summer pleasure of others. They had their beautiful names written up
over their doors, and were for the service of the lady visitors only;
there were other machines for gentlemen, and no doubt it was their
owners whom we saw gathering the fat seaweed thrown up by the storm into
the carts drawn by oxen over the sand. The oxen wore no yokes, but
pulled by a band drawn over their foreheads under their horns, and they
had the air of not liking the arrangement; though, for the matter of
that, I have never seen oxen that seemed to like being yoked.
When we came down to dinner we found the tables fairly full of belated
visitors, who presently proved tourists flying south like ourselves. The
dinner was good, as it is in nearly all Spanish hotels, where for an
average of three dollars a day you have an inclusive rate which you must
double for as good accommodation in our States.
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