44 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



eyes follow him througli the village. He stands on his la\ni 

 and holds up the fish before the window, to receive the facile 

 admiration of acquiescent ^Irs B. And here his sport ends 

 till dinner. Noav, although I carry home a basket of marine 

 animals with none of that effect upon the popular mind 

 (indeed the popular mind is terribly apt to eye my costume 

 and basket with ill-concealed contempt), and although my 

 servant can't for her life think what master does with them 

 things, not she ; yet, when Brown and I are both fairly 

 housed, his delight runs down like a clock-weight— mine 

 ascends like a windlass. The amusement of distributing and 

 identifying the animals I have already noticed ; so we will 

 suppose all that over, and that the fatigues of the day have 

 been snored off with great frankness. The morrow begins. 

 ;My first thought on descending in the morning is to 

 glance with fond anxiety at my animals. ^Yhile the urn 

 is musically hissing, and the coffee percolating, I am care- 

 fully inspecting vases and pans, removing a bit of dirt here, 

 a decayed weed there, placing a small stone more conve- 

 niently there, poking a sluggish Doris (Plate II., fig. 2), to 

 assure myself that he is alive, rescuing an Actinia from the 

 crowding propensities of its cousins, or — sadder oflice still ! 

 — discovering and removing those of my pets who have 

 been inconsiderate enough to pay their debt to nature's laws. 

 This last is a very necessary bit of work, for these amiable 

 creatures, when dead, are capable of stinking with some 

 vigour, and corrupting the water in which their companions 

 live. Breakfast was always ready before I had fairly 

 fmished my overseeing, for the parishes were numerous. 



