There is nothing spectacular about the punctuation in this sentence. However, the breaks with the commas, those phrases, cut up the thought of the complete sentence almost as an introduction to what was to come that was so sweetly unexpected. And how often do we see “whelming?” Webster’s Unabridged has two meanings for this, and either or both could fit in this case:  “b. to engulf or overcome in the manner of a storm or flood with usually disastrous effect”; “c.: to overcome in thought or feeling .”

The sentence fits here because there is so much thought and emotion wrapped up in so little space that, for me, I would class it as artistry. 

“They accepted the pleasures of morning, the bright sun, the whelming sea and sweet air, as a time when play was good and life so full that hope was not necessary and therefore forgotten.“