20 THE HALL OF SHELLS. 



thickened varices upon its surface, each of 

 which marks a year of my life and the season 

 of rest that came to me after my toils. I pride 

 myself no one could have fashioned a fairer 

 dwelling, and when at length I was torn from 

 it I left its halls filled with memories. Those 

 smallest coUs echo with the songs of life's 

 morning ; its joys as well as its sorrows are all 

 repeated there. Upon one side you may see a 

 pearly scar. It was there that a borer pierced 

 my waEs while the shell was yet tender. The 

 thrills of horror of that moment still haunt 

 those small chambers. Rescue came and I 

 lived to mend the broken wall, but you will 

 see the scar remains. 



" Later the walls of my citadel were again 

 pierced and the horrible borer once more 

 sought my life; but again I was delivered. 

 This time I had grown too large for these 

 small chambers, and if you will carefully ex- 

 amine the interior of my house you will see a 

 partition is built shutting off the broken and 

 outgrown chambers. Those are painful memo- 

 ries, and mingled with the merrier music in the 

 coils you may hear cries that are wild and 

 plaintive. 



" Upon the island sands where I was cast I 

 once heard a wise man say, ' Sorrow gives some 



