134 Beautiful Shells. 



THE NAUTILUS AND THE AMMONITE. 



The Nautilus and the Ammonite, 

 Were launched in storm and strife ; 



Each sent to float in its tiny boat, 

 On the wide, wild sea of life. 



And each could swim on the ocean's brim, 



And anon its sails could furl, 

 And sink to sleep in the great sea deep, 



In a palace all of pearl. 



And theirs was a bliss more fair than this, 



That we feel in our colder time ; 

 For they were rife in a tropic life 



In a brighter, happier clime. 



They swam 'mid isles whose summer smiles 



No wintry winds annoy ; 

 Whose groves were palm, whose air was balm, 



Whose life was only joy. 



They roam'd all day through creek and bay, 



And travers'd the ocean deep ; 

 And at night they sank on a coral bank, 



In its fairy bowers to sleep. 



And the monsters vast of ages past, 

 They beheld in their ocean caves; 



And saw them ride in their power and pride, 

 And sink in their billowy graves. 



