SHELLS AND PEBBLES.
A Story for Children.
BY THE AUTHOR OF “STORIES FOR THE NURSERY.”
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION,
APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.
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Children who were born, and have livedall their lives, in an inland county, scarcelyknow what is meant by “the sea.”
Henry Miller was one of these; he waseight years old, and though he had beentaken, when quite a baby, to the sea-shore,he could not recollect anything about it.
Now, if you live near the sea, I dare sayyou may think: “Well, I should not like tolive in an inland county, so far away fromthe sea as never to be able to walk on thebeach, or to climb the rocks, or to pick upcurious things on the shore. I would notbe Henry Miller for the world.”
You will laugh, perhaps, at the way thatHenry found out that the sea was salt; but,after all, he may now know some thingsabout it which you do not; and, though hewas not many hours on the shore, he mayhave picked up some curious things whichyou never saw in your life. Some otherthings he saw, which, I doubt not, you haveseen, but he may have learnt something evenabout these which you do not know, so thatwhat was told to him may be new to youalso.
But if you too, like Henry Miller, liveinland, you will be pleased to hear what hesaw, though nothing happened to him differentfrom what any little boy may meetwith when visiting the sea-side. I am notgoing to tell you an amusing story, but onlyto write about things which any one whohas eyes, and knows how to use them, maysee for himself, and which any one who[7]wishes to learn may read of in useful books,or find out by asking those who know betterthan himself.
Henry Miller and his father, then, wentlast winter to spend two or three days in atown on the south coast of England. Theday after they arrived, they walked to somehigh ground, from which they could see thewater. Henry had seen rivers and pondslarge enough for ships to sail on, but whatnow lay before him was very different. Abroad sheet of water, shut in on both sidesby high land, stretched out so far thatnothing could be seen beyond it. Whetherthe water rose till it met the sky, or the skycame down till it met the water, or whetherthey met each other half way, he could notmake out. This sheet of water, his fathertold him, was called a bay. There weremany ships in it, most of them lying quitestill, riding at anchor, that is, each fastened[8]by strong c