PEARLS.—MOTHER OF PEARL. €9 
the doctor, seeing the little girl still twirling 
the pearls upon her finger, “are white and. lus- 
trous and have the polish that pertains to the 
very finest pearls. It has been suggested that 
this wonderful polish and perfection of luster 
which art can not imitate, may have been caused 
by the continued friction of the soft body of 
the oyster. 
“We hold such pearls as these in the high- 
est esteem, but, since there is no accounting for 
tastes, we find the inhabitants of some other 
countries differ from us in their estimation of 
these gems. We have been accustomed to 
think of pearls as white alone, and we have 
thought of them as Nature’s expression of 
purity. This is not the case with all admirers 
of pearls. The people of India and of China, 
for example, see greater beauty in those of a 
bright yellow color, while others prefer those 
that are pink. Pink pearls, as they are called, 
are not all pink, but range in hue from pink to 
red or even pale yellow or a dull dead white. 
They are generally neither very beautiful nor 
very perfect. Others of a black or leaden-gray 
color are also sometimes met with, and when 
perfect and of a good shape are highly valued. 
“As you already know, the Pacific Ocean 
yields a rich harvest of these gems, and it 
