In the deeper waters that I love, there are miles and miles of soft, blue mud, that to a Dolphin is far more luxurious and enjoyable than the thickest of velvet or the most closely, evenly plaited straw could be.  But when, after a long, delightful journey, I visit the regions of shallower waters, ah, the beautiful things I could bring you, were there a tunnel, a car, or an air-shaft to convey me safely to land!

What are these shining, many-colored things I see lying about, with all kinds of fishes sailing around and playing with, as a child plays with blocks or cards?

Shells! all kinds and shapes, many of them rough outside but smooth and glossy as glass inside.

What is a shell?  You know the word “marine,” called ma-reen, means belonging to the sea, so shells are marine curiosities, for they are always found in or near the sea.  And they are really the hard, outer covering of some sea-animal or other.

But how can I describe shells such as I have looked upon a thousand times?  You have seen some kinds, I know, but they would not even pass as samples of the splendid shapes and tints that lie scattered around my floor.  A few Folks have made a study of the different kinds of shells that have floated or been carried to the shore, and have been able to tell the class of sea-animals to which they have belonged.  They once were the coats or outside garment of a swimmer or a clinger of the sea.

One day a mother-Dolphin missed her boy-Dolphin, and as he was quite a young fellow, she felt much distressed.  Away she sailed, peering amidst the many objects covering the sea-floor.

Do you suppose it is an easy matter to find a fish that has got lost?  I caught the flying-fish because he never got far away from me.  But here was a young rascal that had gone off roaming, almost before he knew how to feed himself, and search as she might, nowhere could his mother find the rogue of a runaway.

If you will believe it, he was gone a week, then back he came, his eyes as big as saucers.  You see, I know how to say some things that Folks do; by and by you will find out how I learned them.

Master Dolphy had a story to tell.  He made us understand in fish-language that he had found a wonderful, wonderful cave, where a party of mermaids had collected a lot of shells, oh, enough to fill a great house!

Now, I can’t tell a thing as to the truth about mermaids.  But “they say,” that is, Folks and fishes say, that they are strange, fascinating creatures, with the head, shoulders, arms, and breast of a beautiful woman, and part of the body and the tail of a fish.  Sometimes they are called sea-nymphs; others call them sirens.

Have you ever lived by the sea?  And on stormy evenings, when rain was rattling on the window-pane, and the wind went screaming around the house, have you ever imagined there were queer calls, and have you seen strange shapes thrown up by the waves?