CHAPTER IX 



SHELLS WITHOUT CANALS 



It is always pleasant to find a living specimen of 

 a mollusk about which you have been studying. To 

 have an empty shell in your cabinet is a satisfaction, 

 but it is much more satisfying if you can call upon 

 the creature in his own home, observe his every-day 

 life, see how he associates with his fellows, find out, 

 if possible, when he gets up, what he eats for break- 

 fast, what he is doing when the whistle blows for 

 noon, whether he indulges in an afternoon nap, and 

 all the other occupations and habits that he may 

 choose to display, or that you are able to learn by 

 watching him on the sly. By getting at these things 

 you come to really know the animal, so far as such 

 knowledge is possible. 



It is so right through life. The boy or girl who 

 observes, watches, examines, and gets all there is 

 out of any subject, is the one who will probably 

 amount to something when he has become a man or 

 she has become a woman. It does not matter so 

 much what the thing is; it may be a shell or a seed; 

 a sentence, a Latin verb, or a frog pond. It may be 

 a map, an equation, or a sermon; the thing to do is 

 to attack it with energy and learn all that you pos- 

 sibly can from it. And you may be sure that there 

 are very few things that do not conceal far more than 

 is evident on the surface. My advice to every young 



