Xf. 
ROCKED IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP. 
“How happy the sea looks to-day! lis 
waves are sparkling and dimpling as with mer- 
riment,” and Undine’s heart was like the sea 
of which she spoke. 
“Halloo!” shouted Tom from the water's 
edge; “here’s something beats a mermaid’s 
‘eradle. It’s funny enough to make old Nep- 
tune roar.” And Tom’s laughter, though per- 
haps a trifle less uproarious, was a very good 
substitute. 
There lay a clam shell upon the sand. The 
tide had lifted a dimimutive crab into it and 
left both just low enough for the sea to touch 
with its silvery hands and keep them rocking. 
“That might be called crabbed comfort,” 
laughed Miss Bremely, “and looks as if Venus 
had turned Crustacean baby tender.” 
After amusing themselves for some time 
over what Tom called “a freak of Nature,” the 
ever-observant Undine asked, “Cousin Ellen, 
$3 | 
