[March, 
AGRICULTURIST. 
PR AMERICAN 
AN IMRKEfciSIVE LESSON IN NATURAL HISTORY.—PROM A PAINTING HY I1ELMSLY. 
Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
The ICdilor with his Young Headers. 
A CAPITAL 1TCTUKE. 
Those of you who live near the salt water, 
will have no difficulty in understanding the 
trouble of the poor fellow who is making such 
amusing grimaces; you have no doubt often felt 
how sharply a crab will bite if not carefully handled. 
Very likely this lad has come from some distance 
inland, to visit his cousin, the fisher-boy, and never 
having seen such a creature, nor learned his habits, 
is taking his first lesson in this branch of natural 
history. lie will not soon forget his first impres¬ 
sion. As he will receive no serious injury, we can 
excuse his cousin for laughing at him. Perhaps the 
most attractive face in the group is that of the little 
girl, who looks on with real sympathy for the suf¬ 
ferer. The baby, peeping over his mother’s shoul¬ 
der, with eyes of wonder, adds much to the scene. 
But the picture tells its own story so perfectly, lit¬ 
tle need be said about it. Study it carefully; it is 
full of thoughts, and several examinations will be 
necessary to perceive . them all. 
A brief description of the crab may be interest¬ 
ing to those who live at a distance from the sea 
coast, and have never seen the animal. TIis shape 
is well shown in the picture. He has five legs on 
each side of his body, the two front ones end in 
strong claws, with which he seizes his food, and also 
defends himself, as the boy in the engraving has 
learned. He is entirely covered with a crust-lilce 
shell, not as hard and thick as that of the turtle. As 
he outgrows this, it bursts open, and the animal 
emerges destitute of any protection except a thin 
skin, which, however, in a few days hardens and 
forms another shell. When in this state thousands 
of them are devoured by fish. There arc several 
species of crabs; the one here shown lives in salt 
water, some other kinds are amphibious, and dig 
holes to live in on the edge of the water. They 
swim rapidly, and are also able to run nimbly when 
upon land. The joints of their legs are so con¬ 
structed that they can move almost equally well 
forward, backward, or sidewise. 
They arc excellent for eating, and arc caught in 
nets. A common -way of taking them, which is 
very often practiced, is to tie a bit of meat to a 
string, lower it into the water, and when seized by 
a crab, draw it gently to the surface, and secure 
him with a hand net. A traveler in the East In¬ 
dies related that he had seen a monkey fishing for 
them by sitting on a bank, with his tail hanging 
down in the water. When a crab seized it, the 
monkey gave a sudden spring, (he would be likely 
to,) jerked him upon the shore, and devoured him 
at his leisure. This, however, we have always con¬ 
sidered a traveler’s tale, though monkeys arc very 
cunning, and it may have happened. 
AMUSING GAMES. 
A few evenings since, we saw the following games 
played at a party, in which old and young joined. 
They created much merriment, particularly the lat¬ 
ter one. In the first, called “Find the lling,’’ a 
ring was slipped on to a small cord long enough to 
extend around the circle of players. Each person 
took hold of this cord, Hie ends of which were tied 
together so that the ring could not drop. The play¬ 
ers stood near enough together to pass the ring 
from the hands of one to another. One of the 
party stood in the middle of the circle, and all to¬ 
gether commenced moving their hands back and 
forth, as though passing the ring. The one in the 
middle endeavored, by watching closely, to detect 
whose band contained the ring. This was not al¬ 
ways easy, as the players all tried to conceal it by¬ 
passing it slyly from one to another, and alsolo 
attract the attention of the “ finder,” by pretending 
to pass it when it was not in their hands. The per¬ 
son in whose hand the ring was found, was obliged 
to take his place in the middle; if the “ finder ” se¬ 
lected the wrong party as possessor, he must try 
again—and perhaps submit to some penalty. 
The second game, called “The Voyage to India,” 
was calculated to try a person’s power of keep¬ 
ing a sober face, as every one detected laughing- 
must be counted out until the next game. All 
took their seats in a circle. One commenced 
the play by saying to his right-hand neigh¬ 
bor. “ My brother has returned from India.” ITis 
neighbor asked, “What did he bring you?” “A 
fan,” was the reply; then the first speaker waved 
his hand as though using a fan, while his neighbor 
held the same conversation with the one on his 
right hand, and then commenced waving his hand. 
This was repeated all around the circle, until each 
one sat fanning himself with one hand. When it 
had passed around, the leader said to his neighbor, 
“My brother brought me two fans,” and at the. 
same time commenced fanning himself with both 
hands ; and this was passed around the circle from 
one to the other until all were industriously using 
both hands. “My brother brought me a boot,” 
said the first speaker, swinging his foot back and 
forth, which went the rounds, then two boots were 
swung; thus all the hands and feet of the party 
were in motion. By this time the scene was so lu¬ 
dicrous that most of the company had joined’in a 
hearty laugh, and were obliged to leave the ring; but 
some five or six yet remained. “ My brother brought 
me a hat,” said the leader, shaking his head, hands, 
and feet, and all followed the example, “He brought 
me a cushion;” then, hands, feet, head, and body, 
were all set in motion, and the gravest of the com¬ 
pany could hold in no longer, and so the play end¬ 
ed with a shout. If this had failed, the leader in¬ 
tended next to mention a whistle; if any could keep 
from laughing after that, we think further trial 
would have been useless. The above plays arc prob¬ 
ably not new to all of you, though, we had never 
seen them before. Perhaps you have games in your 
neighborhood which will be new in other sections. 
Please send descriptions of them. Make them so 
plain that they could readily be played by following 
the instructions given. We have several on hand 
yet to be published. Instructive games are prefer¬ 
able—though there is no objection to an occasional 
innocent play on purpose to have a good laugh— 
it oils up the working machinery, cures mental 
rheumatism, and fits one for active duty. 
SHAKING HANDS. 
Why do people shake hands on meeting ? Can 
any one tell how the custom originated? It is 
not a universal practice. In some countries when 
friends meet, they lay their hands on their hearts 
and bow ; in others, they salute by rubbing their 
noses together! — but most civilized nations shake 
hands, as we do. We will leave you to find the 
answer to our question by thinking, inquiring, and 
reading. By searching for information on such 
matters much may be learned about other and 
more important subjects; just as it is said an 
Indian while hunting for goats on the mountains in 
Bolivia, South America, found the silver mines of 
Potosi, the richest in the world. 
