PART I




THE CONFESSIONS OF A BEACHCOMBER



INTRODUCTION


Does the fact that a weak mortal sought an unprofaned sanctuary--an
island removed from the haunts of men--and there dwelt in tranquillity,
happiness and security, represent any just occasion for the relation of
his experiences--experiences necessarily out of the common? To this
proposition it will be for these pages to find answer.

Few men of their own free will seek seclusion, for does not man belong to
the social vertebrates, and do not the instincts of the many rule? And
when an individual is fain to acknowledge himself a variant from the
type, and his characteristics or idiosyncrasies (as you will) to be so
marked as to impel him to deem them sound and reasonable; when, after
sedate and temperate ponderings upon all the aspects of voluntary exile
as affecting his lifetime partner as well as himself, he deliberately
puts himself out of communion with his fellows, does the experiment
constitute him a messenger? Can there be aught of entertainment or
instruction in the message he may fancy himself called upon to deliver?
or, is the fancy merely another phase of the tyranny of temperament?