2§^52E$£SE3rSE£3? 



yourselves but a recollection . . . Dear Teacher, 

 I wonder where you now are. I wonder if you in 

 turn ever recall the little freckle-faced barefoot 

 boy who amazed you by memorizing "The Cham- 

 bered Nautilus," the printed verses which you so 

 graciously presented on his birthday. The years 

 disperse as inexorably as they efface ; but wherever 

 you are, whether it may be yet among the living 

 or whether with the dead, no tribute of mine can 

 begin to compensate for the inspiration I have de- 

 rived from your tender, your sweet and noble 

 memory . . . 



II 



Thus, it will be observed, came about my first 

 real revelation of one of the manifold secrets of 

 Nature. It will be further observed, if you please, 

 that the subject of my inquiry was a crustacean; 

 for the sow-bug notwithstanding its strictly ter- 

 restrial habits is a member of the group comprising 

 also the lobster, the shrimp, and the crab. These 

 land isopods, as they are technically known, are 

 found everywhere, far from their ancient home in 

 the sea, frequenting damp situations and dark 

 nooks such as are offered by the under sides of 



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