Spirit of the links

NORTH BERWICK
1
39
old player has conviction in this immediate choice
by instinct, though the question is not one which he
answers lightly. In his heart he has corners for many
old loves, and as he brings each one up for contempla-
tion and counts her many charms, he thinks that surely
she is the fairest of them all. But inevitably when
they have all been passed in review his fancy brings him
back to one, and he clings to the remembrance of her,
confessing that she is not like the others. There is a
subtlety in her charm, a fascination in her manners,
an " altogether " which cannot be resisted. She is
gentler than St. Andrews, a sweet innocent maiden
wading with bare feet among the rocks of the
Haddington coast, whom you love to tease and toy
with; while my lady of Fifeshire is colder and of
great dignity and compelling attractions. It is a fine
sea at North Berwick, and though in the play one
may think little enough of the sea, it is good to have
the wavelets kissing the pebbles hard by an occasional
green, and to hear their soothing lapping. The sound
is grateful to the hard-tried nerves. There are few
parts of the North Berwick course where one cannot
see a little of the ocean, while here and there, such as
at Point Garry and Perfection, the greens are placed
in enchanting spots. Then the air is like wine. At
North Berwick one is in East Lothian, in the centre
of the finest golfing country in the world. In two or
three weeks one may tire of the same links, the
monotony of the same round, the same bunkers, the
same greens. Here there are many others at hand,
and all within the shortest of journeys. Chiefly there
is Gullane the grand. When you are at Gullane you
may think it is better than North Berwick as a place
to stay and holiday in. It is quieter, quainter, more
4