SECOND WEEK] February 51 



a brilliant coin fresh from the mint. It is a perfect jewel 

 of the river, the green, red, coppery, and golden reflections 

 of its mottled sides being the concentration of such rays 

 as struggle through the floating pads and flowers to the 

 sandy bottom, and in harmony with the sunlit brown and 

 yellow pebbles." 



When the cold days of winter come and the ice begins 

 to close over the pond, the sunfish become sluggish and 

 keep near the bottom, half-hibernating but not unwilling 

 to snap at any bit of food which may drift near them. 

 Lying prone on the ice we may see them poising with 

 slowly undulating fins, waiting, in their strange wide-eyed 

 sleep, for the warmth which will bring food and active 

 life again. 



3rd. Fish. Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea. 

 1st. Fish. Why, as men do a-land: the great ones eat up the little 

 ones. 



SHAKESPEARE. 



