34 THE HALL OP SHELLS. 



speck after anotlier out of the sand, her aston- 

 ishment and delight ever increasing as she 

 found such tiny spirals beautifully polished or 

 clear as glass, with every coil perfect. Baby 

 bivalves were there with carvings so delicate 

 only a strong glass could trace them. From 

 some of the shells finest of threadlike feelers 

 protruded, showing such living atoms as per- 

 fect and as wonderful as are the houses they 

 inhabit. 



" O Cousin Ellen ! " she exclaimed, as the 

 revelation overwhelmed her, " how precious our 

 world must be to God ! He has crowded even 

 its unse,en places with such beauty and made 

 so perfect, things no human eye can see ! " 



" His wonderful works teach of him with- 

 out whom ' was not anything made that was 

 made,' " replied her cousin. " In them he 

 gives us glimpses of his character.' In his 

 creations, 'never more great than when mi- 

 nutely great,' he shows us his love for what is 

 perfect — ^the beautiful we call it. He keeps 

 these examples everywhere before us, as if he 

 would lure us to love what is perfect and to 

 become such ourselves." 



