LITTLE PEOPLE OF THE POOLS. 



PART 11. 



Turning over the stones in the bed of 

 the canal one November day, we came 

 upon a very small lobster tucked away, 

 three inches or a little more, and he was 

 put in the tank, and petted and 

 encouraged. One said it was easy to see 

 he was a perfect gentleman. Another 

 said he had an awkward grace of his 

 own : but he had also an awkward habit 

 of changing his shell with startling fre- 

 quency, coming out so much bigger each 

 time that the aquarium threatened to 

 become all lobster. He was therefore 

 restored to his friends. 



They all had to be so restored in 

 spring; for it is not convenient to keep 

 an aquarium in summer, — and many 

 were the misgivings with which a Bos- 

 ton enthusiast of later date used to glide 

 down to Charles River and consign her 

 favorites to its dubious depths. Pos- 

 sibly the objects of her solicitude might 

 have preferred the ash-barrel if they had 

 been consulted, for the Charles, as a 

 place of residence, has seen better days. 

 Kingsley says water-babies will not come 

 where man has in any way made a mess : 

 they leave it to the anemones and crabs 

 to clear it' up. Anemones are not as 

 sensitive to unfavorable conditions as 

 hermit crabs, it is true; but probably 

 even they like clean water best. We used 

 to find good ones on the float at the ferry- 

 landing in the old days when the water 

 was clean and we might bathe from the 

 \yharves if we pleased, but we should not 

 expect to find any now. 



One creature whose name we never 

 knew, we never saw alive, although we 

 picked up numbers of the shells on the 

 beaches. We kept fleets of them and 

 called them boat-shells, and perfect little 

 boats they were, with a little deck in the 

 bow. The most seaworthy were broad 

 and proportionately shallow, while the 

 narrow deep ones were most richly col- 

 ored within, a deep glossy crimson 

 (barring the seat, which was always 



pale). These shells are extremely rare 

 at present where once they were com- 

 mon. 



When the aquarium is set up, or as 

 suflfering spectators phrase it, "when 

 that awful slop occurs," there is "racing 

 and chasing" if it be in a place as remote 

 as Boston from a practicable shore. In 

 the first place arrives the officer in com- 

 mand of the expedition, fresh from the 

 train with : — item, a basketful of uncov- 

 ered preserve- jars wherein repose divers 

 beasts in their native element: item, a 

 basket of selected stones with green weed 

 growing on them : item, a bag of small 

 pebbles to represent the ocean floor: 

 item, an extra jug of salt water; para- 

 phernalia. 



It will be seen that spare hands must 

 have been pressed into the service at some 

 points already; but the booty deposited 

 and the fair chief having drawn breath, 

 she proceeds to further acts of spoliation. 

 She requisitions all the tureens out of 

 vanished dinner-sets and all the wash 

 bowls she can get without personal con- 

 flict, that her prisoners may have more 

 breathing surface and elbow-room for 

 the night. All must have some living 

 green allotted them, while divers and 

 sundry must be separated for the pres- 

 ent, to avoid fatal disagreement. More- 

 over, none of the weed can be left out 

 of water over night, nor can the water 

 be left sitting by itself in the jug: it 

 would sour. The pebbles can be left to 

 look after themselves, and the family may 

 now go snatch some hours of repose, 

 picking their way among the miniature 

 abysses which yawn on all sides. 



The morrow dawns. The tank is 

 placed in the position it is expected to 

 occupy for the winter, — before some 

 sunny window (but the shade must be 

 drawn in the brightest hours), and the 

 bottom is covered with the small pebbles, 

 which are not only far prettier than bare 

 glass, but are quite indispensable to good 



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