THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE. 171 
find that an oyster at home is a very different thing 
from an oyster on a stall, 
You ought, besides, to dredge many handsome 
species of shells, which you would never pick up 
along the beach; and if you are conchologizing in 
earnest, you must not forget to bring home a tin box 
of shell sand, to be washed and picked over in a dish 
at your leisure, or forget either to wash through a 
fine sieve, over the boat’s side, any sludge and ooze 
which the dredge brings up. Many—I may say, 
hundreds—rare and new shells are found in this 
way, and in no other. 
But if you cannot afford the expense of your own 
dredge and boat, and the time and trouble necessary to 
follow the occupation scientifically, yet every trawler 
and oyster-boat will afford you a tolerable satisfac- 
tion. Goon board one of these; and while the trawl 
is down, spend a pleasant hour or two in talking with 
the simple, honest, sturdy fellows who work it, from 
whom (if you are as fortunate as I have been for - 
many a year past) you may get many a moving story 
of danger and sorrow, as well as many a shrewd 
