158 THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
passed ! Whence these ocean-builders get their 
vast amount of materials, and how deftly they 
work them up, are equal marvels to the higher 
race of boasters, who have to delve for their 
poor pittances of wood and stone, and build 
them into homes with so much toil and such a 
taxing of skill. 
“ But in trying to make such comparisons, 
the sense of the infinite comes back, and to 
relieve the mental strain the shore must be re¬ 
visited, where some one of its thousands of 
wonders can be picked up for inspection and 
admiration; and thus the heart will once more 
be calmed into devout serenity. 
“ Few who have paced the ocean-strands 
but have been arrested by the curious jelly-like, 
crystal masses so often met wfth, and not un- 
frequently elegantly fluted and frilled with rib- 
bon-like tentacles. When stranded and dead 
they are rather repulsive objects, but watch the 
incoming waves, and the pains will be likely to 
be rewarded by a view of a living specimen of 
the jelly-fish, beautiful in shape and brilliantly 
iridescent, blending all the colors of the rain¬ 
bow, and changing with every motion of the 
wave and glance of the sunbeam. 
