Footprints on the Sea-Shore — Nathaniel Hawthorne

" ...]the sand without the certainty that, almost ere the sky has looked upon them, the sea will wash them out. Stir not hence till the record be effaced. Now-for there is room enough on your canvas-draw huge faces, -huge as that of the Sphinx on Egyptian sands, -and fit them with bodies of corresponding immensity, and legs which might stride half-way to yonder island. Child's play becomes magnificent on so grand a scale. But, after all, the most fascinating employment is simply to write your name in the sand. Draw the letters gigantic, so that two strides may barely measure them, and three for the long strokes Cut deep, that the record may be permanent Statesmen, and warriors, and poets have spent their strength in no better cause than this. Is it accomplished? Return, then, in an hour or two, and seek for ...]