in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania.
Charley's Museum.
Charley Carter was a bright, active lad, of twelve years old, the son of
a farmer, who lived a few miles distant from Philadelphia. He was a very
great favorite of his uncle Brown, his mother's brother, who was a
wealthy merchant in the city. He was also a favorite of another brother
of his mother, who had been, for many years a sea captain, sailing to
all parts of the world. So, you see, our Charley, with a kind father and
mother, and two such uncles, was very well provided for.
Charley was a lively, inquiring boy, who liked to find out all he could
about the animals he saw, whether they flew through the air, or swam
through the water, or walked on the ground, or crawled in the dirt.
[Illustration: MR. BROWN AND CHARLEY.]
Luckily for our Charley, his uncle Brown had had, from boyhood, the same
taste for Natural History, which our little friend was beginning to
have, and you can imagine how pleased his uncle was to see this taste in
his little nephew. Our sea captain was pleased also, and so was his
father, and all three of them together, determined that our little boy
should have the opportunity and the means to cultivate his taste.
So, as Mr. Carter had a big attic to his house, with two good sized
windows fronting the south, he got a carpenter and had a nice room made
for Charley, that should be his own Museum. Don't you think our Charley
was pleased, that his father was so kind to him? When the room was all
finished, uncle Brown, who had, for a long time, a bit of a Museum in
his own house, in the city, brought out, one day, a lot of shells to
begin our Charley's Museum, with. And now I must try to tell something
about these shells, and the creatures who used to have their homes in
them. (But first I must tell you one thing, if you hav'nt guessed it
already, that as soon as Charley began to lisp his words, his kind
mother took him in her lap and taught him to repeat the Lord's Prayer,
and, I can tell you, Charley, as he grew older, never went to sleep at
night, until he had addressed this prayer to the great, good Being, who
made and takes care of all of us. Remember this, boys, for it is of
more consequence than shells, or animals, or anything else.)
[Illustration: MONEY-COWRY.]
The first shell that Uncle Brown gave to Charley, was what is called a
"money-cowry." It is an elegant shaped and beautifully marked shell and
takes its name from the fact, that one species of them is used as money,
both in Bengal and Guinea, two places at a vast distance from each
other. The value of these shells is small, in comparison with that of
gold and silver, three thousand two hundred cowries amounting to a
rupee, which equals fifty cents of our coin.
Next came a shell that Charley thought had a very funny name, "the Royal
Staircase Wentle-trap." However, it was a very handsome shell, that
uncle sea captain brought to uncle Brown from the far off Chinese and
Indian seas, where the animals live. In old times this shell was prized
so highly, that one, two inches long, sold for five hundred dollars.
And, even now, a fine specimen brings from thirty to thirty-five
dollars. This shell Mr. Brown said, belongs to the class Turbo or
Turbinidae. The fisherman call all of this class, whelks.
[Illustration: ROYAL STAIRCASE WENTLETRAP.]
[Illustration: COMMON WHELK.]
After this, came another rather queer-named shell, the animal that lived
in it, being called the "Common Whelk," and belonging to a class of
creatures entitled Buccinidae, from the Latin name for _trumpet_,
because they were thought to look like a trumpet. These animals are very
plentiful all along the British coasts, and are sold like oysters, in
the London markets, besides being exported abroad for food. They have a
sort of proboscis, all full of sharp teeth, with which they bore through
the shells of other mussels and eat up the creatures inside.
"Persons who collect shells and form cabinets of them for their
amusement," said Mr. Brown, "are not naturalists. They care nothing
about the animal which lived in the shell, when it was in the sea. All
they wish for, is to have a pretty and complete collection, containing
as many different kinds and as rare shells as possible."
"I should like to have a pretty collection," said Charley.
[Illustration: MIDAS'S EAR.]
"So you will," said Mr. Brown, "but I hope you will learn as much as you
can of the natural history of the animals, to whom the shells wore once
attached."
"I will try," said Charley.
"Now here is one," said Mr. Brown taking the shell from his pocket,
"called the Bulla Ampulla." Observe it.
It is shaped much like an egg, though somewhat round, and is beautifully
spotted with white, plum-color and reddish. It is said to exist in both
the Indian and American Oceans. What you see here is only the empty
shell or covering of the animal.
[Illustration: BULLA VELUM. (TWO VIEWS.)]
It once contained a living animal, and the shell was formed by the
hardening of the soft material of its body. It grew just as your hard
finger nails grow. Here is another Bulla. This is the Bulla Velum. You
see its general shape is much like the other; but the markings are
different.
"How beautiful it is!" said Charley. "Dear uncle, I can never repay you
for your kindness in giving me such elegant things as these. And some of
them are very costly too."
"They cost me nothing," said Mr. Brown. "They were brought and presented
to me by sea captains, and supercargoes in my service. Even that
Wentle-trap was a sea captain's gift; and when I told its real value, he
insisted the more on my keeping it But most of the shells are
cheap.--But that is of no consequence.
"I will tell you, Charley," continued Mr. Brown, "how you can repay and
gratify me. It is by industry and good conduct.
"I wish you to grow up to a first-rate man, you must begin by being a
first rate boy. When I am out here, and happen to remember any thing
that has, in any way, done me good in my life time, I will tell it to
you, if you will promise to try to keep it in mind and to act upon it.
Will you promise?"
"Oh yes, uncle, I will promise to try to remember and do what you tell
me."
"Well, then, I'll tell you one thing now, that happened when I was a
school-boy, two or three years younger than you are even now. Our Master
was a very good teacher and a very good man, and he liked to have his
scholars go on learning and improving out of school, as well as in, and
to behave well also. So he told all the boys and girls, except the
little ones, to do, every week, two things, and let him see, each
Monday, which had done them best.
"One of these was to keep a diary. Do you know, Charley, what a Diary
is?"
"I believe, uncle, I have seen the word somewhere, but I do not know
what it means."
"Well, the Master meant this, that each scholar should have a blank
book, and every evening should write down what they had seen and heard,
and done and thought and felt during the day, at least as much as they
could remember, that was of any consequence. He said, that by doing this
carefully, they would improve the memory, and also learn to express
their thoughts well, either by writing or in speaking.
"So we did what he told us as well as we could, and used to carry what
we had put down, through the week, for the master to examine, on Monday
morning. Some of the scholars didn't write much or write it very well,
but, I am pretty sure even that little was a benefit to them. I know,
that it did me a great deal of good, which I found the advantage of, all
my life. The President, John Quincy Adams, kept one of these Diaries,
from the time he was a boy, till he died, over eighty years old, and
you have read what a wise and good man he was. Now I want you, Charley,
to begin now and keep a Diary. Will you?"
"As I told you before, uncle, I'll try."
"Well, my dear boy, if you will try in real earnest, you will do well
enough, I am very sure. And, to help you start, I will bring you out the
very first pages I wrote, when I was only ten years old."
"Do, uncle, I shall be very glad to read what you wrote, when you were a
little boy."
"Well, Charley, I told you there was one more thing the master told us
to do, out of school. This was, when we went to church, on Sunday, to
listen very carefully to the minister's sermons, and when we got home,
to put down the text and all the rest we could remember, and bring to
him, on Monday morning, to be examined. He said this would improve us in
the same ways, as keeping diaries would. We obeyed him, and some of the
scholars became so skilful, that they could remember and write down more
than half of both sermons. I think I have some of my notes, still left,
and if so I'll let you see them. Perhaps they will help you to make a
beginning in this too. Now, Charley, I want you to try this, as well, as
the other. Will you, for the sake of pleasing uncle Brown?"
"As sure, as I live, uncle, I will, and I'll begin the very next Sunday,
and see what I can do; and if I don't make out very well at first, I'll
keep trying till I can do better."
"Thank you, my boy. And now I won't tell you but one more of these
things, at present, but leave them till other occasions. You don't know
one of the strongest reasons, why I wish you to have a Museum, and to
get a knowledge of natural history."
"What is the reason, uncle? Won't you tell me?"
"It is, Charley, to prevent you, at least while you are so young, from
forming the habit of reading the kinds of novels and stories, which are
so plentiful now-a-days. I mean those, which are filled with all sorts
of wild, horrible things. Reading such books would be very likely to
make your mind sick, as taking poison would your body, and then you
would'nt like to study or to read at all, books that would make you
wise and good. Why, sometimes such stories drive people actually crazy."
"I'll tell you something, that happened to me once, when I was quite a
small boy, that made me almost crazy, for a while, and it is a wonder,
that it didn't make me quite so.
"I heard a story told, one day, which of course was the same thing as
reading it. This story was, that a traveller, being once on a journey
through a wild country, full of woods and rocks, came by a large cave,
in the side of a hill and partly under ground, and for some reason went
into it. He found there a horrible looking creature, a woman, as tall as
a giant, down to the waist, and the lower part of her a long,
monstrously large snake.
"I felt quite frightened, when I heard the story, and all the rest of
the day, I couldn't help thinking uneasily of that gigantic woman snake.
I was more frightened than ever, when the time came for me to go to bed
at night. I slept then in the attic and used to go to bed without a
light, for I had never been afraid of the dark. I went pretty slowly, I
tell you, till I got to the attic door, and there I stopped awhile,
afraid to open it for fear of seeing something horrid. But my father
called to me to go to bed instantly. I opened the door, and there I saw
the woman snake, part reaching into the dark above. I saw her as
plainly, as I see you now, and was terrified almost out of my senses.
"But my father called to me again, and I shut my eyes and rushed up
stairs. Of course I didn't hit any thing for there was no such creature
there. It was my fright at hearing the story, that made me see what
didn't exist.
"Now, Charley, do you think you had better read books, that can have
such an effect as that?"
[Illustration]