THE FRESH- WATER MUSSEL. 



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licious food. The oysters you like so well are near 

 cousins of the mussel. Now, when you are enjoying 

 your nice Baltimore or Saddle-rock stew, you will often 

 think of the pretty fringed mantles, the little rooms, 

 and the funny pockets. Clam-chowder is a celebrated 

 dish, and many people think it rare fun to have a clam- 

 bake on the sea-shore. Cockles, too, are a favorite food. 

 I have often seen women and children gathering them 

 on the sands on the coast of Scotland, when the tide 

 was out. The cockle buries himself quite out of sight, 

 but you can see the hole he leaves in the sand above 

 him. In the old country, people eat cockles as we eat 

 oysters. The way in which these poor things are cooked 

 alive is very cruel. The people who roast the oyster 

 and cockle in his shell by the hundred think it very 

 wicked to cut one or two up to find out how they are 

 made. It is not cruel to torture them in order to eat 

 them, but it is very wicked to open them to learn about 

 them ! So the people think who love eating better than 

 learning, but I hope you will never torture any animal, 

 either to get food or knowledge. I have told you only 

 a few of the many wonderful things there are to learn 

 about the mussel, and I hope you will try some day to 

 find out all the rest for yourselves. 



