It is a pearl.  Only once in a great while will so perfect and so valuable a gem be found near my deep water home.  And although we are not so very far east, yet it would be called an “Orient,” or an “Eastern pearl.”

Perhaps it has floated in its polished pink bed from a far eastern sea.  I told you a little while ago that I must explain what an oyster had to do with Folks that sported too many jewels, and why it might be amused at the sight.

Did you know that inside of an oyster-shell grew the lovely, costly pearls that Folks will give a great deal of money for?  Why, Queen Victoria of England had a Scotch pearl that cost two hundred dollars.  Queens and princes, rich Folks, jewellers, and dealers in precious stones, will give great sums of money for necklaces, brooches, or rings that have in them the precious Oriental pearls.

I had to listen very hard to find out what I did about pearls.  But I found that they have been known, talked of, and written about, almost ever since the beginning of the world.

Oyster-beds are generally much nearer the shore than most kinds of shells.  It is said to be when an oyster gets restless or uneasy that a strange substance enters the edge of the shell, and after a time a pearl is formed.  And while many pearls are found in oyster-shells, they also are often found fastened to the pink bosom of a conch-shell.

There are black pearls of much value, but though rare, they are never half as beautiful as a white or pink one.  Some pink pearls are very lovely, and when large-sized, are also very expensive.

The pearl we see lying here is a splendid white one, and my! the money it would bring!  Pick up that shell, carry it with you to a jeweller, and see the dollars the fair round gem will bring to your purse.  You could buy yourself beautiful clothes, or a pony, or could have with it a fine party, flowers, favors, treat and all.

What?  Don’t dare to?  Oh, me, me, what a little coward!  I can’t pick it up very well.  If I took it in my mouth, down my throat it would go.  If I tried to catch it up with a fin, over into the water it would bounce.

Never mind.  Look at the sweetly beautiful conch-shell, with the splendid gem resting so softly on its pink, polished side.  And let me tell you what I think.

The opinion of a fish, even a great lordly one, may not be worth much, but to me that exquisitely lovely stone, reposing on that exquisitely lovely shell, is a far more beautiful thing to look upon than the jewel ever could be when fitted into the costliest setting of gold.

Now it is just as it was made, and I think that Whoever formed and set that pearl knew more about real beauty and fitness, and what is simple, natural, and very beautiful, than all the Folks and jewellers in the world.

Look at that white splendor.  Don’t you agree with me?

CHAPTER VII.