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diff --git a/23742.txt b/23742.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..afa159d --- /dev/null +++ b/23742.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1181 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Charley's Museum, by Unknown + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Charley's Museum + A Story for Young People + +Author: Unknown + +Release Date: December 5, 2007 [EBook #23742] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLEY'S MUSEUM *** + + + + +Produced by Jacqueline Jeremy, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: CHARLEY'S HUMMING BIRDS.] + + +CHARLEY'S MUSEUM. + +A Story + +FOR YOUNG PEOPLE + +[Illustration] + +PHILADELPHIA: + +THEODORE BLISS & CO. + +Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1855 + +BY H. C. PECK & THEO. BLISS, + +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] + + + + +CURIOUS BIRDS + + +Uncle Brown had in his Museum, a great many Birds, as well as shells. I +don't mean living birds, but stuffed birds. In the old countries there +is a class of men, who, having been taught how to do it well, make it +their regular trade to procure birds, and after having taken off their +skins, with all the feathers on, to stuff them with some soft substance. +They are exactly as if alive, and of the same size. + +There are some of these Taxidermists (as they are called) in this +country, though not, I believe, very many. Uncle Brown got most of his +birds from Europe, by means of uncle sea-captain, when he came home from +his voyages. + +Uncle Brown going out one day, to Charley's father's, carried several of +these birds with him, which were so pretty, that Charley was greatly +delighted. + +[Illustration: EMERALD BIRD OF PARADISE.] + +The first he showed him was called "the Emerald Bird of Paradise," and +was about as large as a jay. Its home is New Guinea and some other +parts of the hot regions of Asia. Its body, breast, and lower parts are +of a deep, rich brown; the front is covered thickly with black feathers, +mixed with green; the throat is of a splendid golden-green; the head is +yellow; and the tail is made up of long, downy plumes of a soft yellow, +together with a pair filaments almost two feet long. + +"The bird is so vain of its beautiful plumage, that it will not let a +speck of dirt stay on it; but is continually examining its feathers to +see that they are perfectly clean. When wild, it always flies and sits +facing the wind, lest its elegant plumes should get ruffled. + +"It lives partly on insects, such as grasshoppers, which it will not +touch, unless it has killed them itself, but chiefly on the seeds of the +teak tree and a kind of fig. + +"There were once a great many strange stories about this bird. As the +natives of Guinea used to cut off their legs, and dry them, and sell +them, of course they reached Europe without feet. So the people there +got up a report that the bird lived always in the air, floated by, its +light feathers; that it used its shoulders for its nest; that it rested +only by hanging from a branch by its tail-filaments; that its food was +morning dew; with other reports as droll as these. There are several +kinds of Birds of Paradise, but the one in the cut is the most common, +and is that of which these fables are told." + +[Illustration: TOCO TOUCAN.] + +The next bird Uncle Brown showed Charley, was a very curious looking +one, named the Toco Toucan, a native of the American tropics. It has, as +you see, a monstrous sized bill, though it is not nearly so heavy, as it +looks, being mostly of a honey comb make. This bill seems to have in +it a great many nerves and so to be very sensitive, as the bird +scratches it with its foot, and also appears to enjoy holding meat and +fruits, with its tip, both of which prove the bill to have feeling in +it. It feeds on all sorts of eatable things, but is especially fond of +mice and little birds, which it kills by a strong squeeze, and then +tears to pieces and devours. + +The topmost branch of a tall tree, called the Mora, when dead, is the +favorite resort of the Toucan, where it cannot be reached by the +gunner. It seems to fancy itself more beautiful, when its tail is +trimmed, and it therefore uses its beak to do this, as the barber +employs his scissors to trim our hair. When asleep, the Toucan takes +great care of its bill, covering it nicely with the back plumage, so +that the whole bird looks like a great round ball of feathers. Its body +is about eighteen inches long. + +Next uncle Brown showed Charley a bird, called the Parrakeet. It was a +very pretty one, with a green body, a red bill, and a rose-colored band +round its neck, from which it is sometimes named the Rose-ringed +Parrakeet. + +[Illustration: RINGED PARRAKEET.] + +This bird is often tamed, and, from its gentle disposition and pleasant +ways, is a great favorite. It seems very fond of ripe walnuts halved, +and while picking out the meat, makes a little clucking noise, showing +that it is pleased. + +It is soon taught to repeat words and short sentences and to speak quite +plainly. Sometimes, when angry, it screams loudly, and seems to practise +any new accomplishment when it thinks that nobody can hear it. + +Another Bird, added to our Boy's Museum, was called the Brush Turkey, +because it is found mostly in the thick brush-wood of New South Wales. +The gentleman, who first made it known to the public, tells also of a +very curious way, in which the bird makes its nest. It never uses its +bill, as other birds do, but tears up grass and dirt and sticks with its +foot and flings it backward into a heap, and thus clears the ground, for +some distance round, so thoroughly, that hardly a grass blade or leaf is +left. + +[Illustration: A BULLA AMPULLA. (TWO VIEWS)] + +Having finished the pile and waited till it has become heated enough +it lays its eggs, not side by side, as in common cases, but places them, +with the large end upwards, from nine to twelve inches apart, perfectly +upright and buried at nearly an arm's length. The eggs are covered up, +as they are laid, and left until the heat hatches them. Sometimes a +bushel of them are found in one heap, and are very fine eating. When +this Turkey is disturbed, it runs swiftly through the under-brush, or +springs upon the low branch of some tree, and leaps from limb to limb +till it reaches the top. + +Another bird, called the Mound Making Megapode, from its big feet, is +somewhat like the Brush Turkey, laying many eggs; it digs holes five or +six feet deep and deposits the eggs at the bottom. The natives gets +these eggs by scratching up the earth with their fingers--a very hard +task, since the holes seldom run straight. Some of these mounds are +enormously large, one of them being found to measure fifteen feet in +height and sixty feet round the bottom. These birds live in the close +thickets on the sea-shore and are never found far inland. + +[Illustration: MOUND MAKING MEGAPODE.] + +Besides these birds Mr. Brown presented Charley with a glass case +containing a number of different kinds of Humming Birds stuffed so as to +look alive and some of them perched on artificial trees, and others +attached to concealed wires, so as to appear as if they were flying. +(_See frontispiece._) This case of Humming Birds was the chief ornament +of the Museum; greatly was Charley's delight at being its possessor. + +Mr. Wilson, the great ornithologist, says, "I have seen the humming +bird, for half an hour at a time, darting at those little groups of +insects that dance in the air, on a fine summer evening, retiring to an +adjoining twig to rest, and renewing the attack with a dexterity that +set all other fly-catchers at defiance." Their feet are small and +slender, but having long claws, and, in consequence they seldom alight +upon the ground, but perch easily on branches, from which also they +generally suspend themselves when sleeping, with their heads downwards. +Their tail is broad. Their nests, about an inch in diameter, and as much +in breadth, are very compactly formed, the outer coat of grey lichen, +and lined with the fine down plucked from the stalks of the fern and +other herbs, and are fixed to the side of a branch or the moss-grown +side of a tree so artificially, that they appear, when viewed from +below, mere mossy knots, or accidental protuberances. They are bold and +pugnacious, two males seldom meeting on the same bush or flower without +a battle; and the intrepidity of the female, when defending her young, +is not less remarkable. They attack the eyes of the larger birds, when +their needle-like bill is truly a formidable weapon; and it is +affirmed, that if they perceive a man climbing the tree where their +nests are, they fly at his face, and strike him also in the eyes. Most +of the species lay only two eggs, and some of them only one. They have +been tamed--a female, with her nest and eggs, brought from Jamaica to +England, was fed with honey and water on the passage, and the young +ones, when hatched, readily took honey from the lips of the lady to whom +they were presented, and one, at least, survived two months after their +arrival. + +[Illustration] + + + + +HOW CHARLEY ARRANGED HIS MUSEUM. + + +After uncle Brown had gone home, Charley determined he would begin to be +industrious at once. So he went up to his room, and began to arrange +his shelves, which his father had put up for the purpose. As he put each +one in its place, he examined it very carefully, and tried to recall +every thing his uncle had told him about it, so that it might be fixed +fast and clear in his memory, for he wished to tell his father and +mother and his favorite playmates the wonderful things he had heard. He +looked sharp too, to find in them other curious things, which his uncle +Brown hadn't mentioned, that he might ask him about them when he came +out again, or hunt them up in the books his uncle was to bring him. + +As fast, as he put up a bird or shell, he wrote down, on a slip of stout +paper, in a large, neat hand (for he was quite a nice penman) the place +and name of the bird, or animal, that once lived in the shell, and where +was its native place, and fastened it with tacks above it. + +Though he worked very steadily, it occupied all his spare time, out of +school, for several days. + +Next he asked his father to get him a good sized blank book to make a +catalogue of his Museum, which his father did very willingly. Then +Charley wrote down in this the name and the native place of each of his +birds, and under this he recorded all his uncle told him about them. He +left besides, under each name, a page or two blank, so that he might +have room to set down whatever else he might find out about them. + +All this took his spare hours for several days more, and after finishing +his labels on his Museum and his Catalogue, he felt quite proud of their +orderly and neat appearance and he had good reason to feel satisfied +for they made a very pretty show. Then he invited his father and mother +to walk up and see what he had done, for he had before requested them +not to come up, till he got ready for them. They were both very much +pleased with all his doings, and praised him a good deal. They said, +they hoped that he would be as neat and orderly in all he did, as he had +been here, for it would help him very much in his studies or in his +business matters. They told him there was a good saying, which he had +better write down and put up over his little desk, so that he could +often see it, "A place for every thing, and every thing in its place." +They said, too, it was an excellent plan to write down, as he had in his +catalogue, all the particulars he knew about anything, for he could +understand and remember them better, when they had once been all put on +paper. + +[Illustration] + + + + +STUFFED SKINS. + + +"Now, Charley," said Mr. Brown at his next visit, "I've got some new +curiosities for your Museum; that is, stuffed animals. You know I told +you, about your birds, that the skin was taken off carefully and filled +out plumply with some dry, soft substance. Just so it is with these +animals." + +[Illustration: ERMINE IN HIS SUMMER DRESS.] + +Here, first, look at this Ermine, which, for a very long while, has been +so famous for its beautiful fur, that kings and nobles have paid a +high price for it to trim their robes, This fur in summer is dark +colored, but in winter it is an elegant white, except on the tip of the +tail, where it is jet black. + +The Ermine lives in the northern parts of the Old and New Worlds, and it +preys on hares and rabbits and almost every other creature it is strong +enough to master. + +I will tell you a story about the Ermine. Mr. Sturgis, of Boston, was +formerly engaged in trading with the natives on the north west-coast of +America, for furs. + +The natives had no currency. But the skin of the Ermine, found in +limited numbers upon the northern part of the continent, was held in +such universal estimation, and of such uniform value, among many tribes, +that it in a measure supplied the place of currency. The skin of this +little slender animal is from eight to twelve inches in length, +perfectly white, except the tip of the tail, which is jet black. + +Urged by some Indian friends, in 1802, Mr. Sturgis obtained and sent +home a fine specimen, with a request that a quantity should be ordered +at the annual Leipsic fair, where he supposed they might be obtained. +About five thousand were procured, which he took out with him on the +next voyage, and arrived at Kigarnee, one of the principal trading +places on the coast, early in 1804. Having previously encouraged the +Indians to expect them, the first question was, if he had "clicks," (the +Indian name for the Ermine skin) for sale, and being answered in the +affirmative, great earnestness was manifested to obtain them, and it was +on that occasion that he purchased five hundred and sixty prime +sea-otter skins, at that time worth fifty dollars a piece at Canton, in +a single fore-noon, giving for each five ermine skins, that cost less +than thirty cents each in Boston. He succeeded in disposing of all his +ermines at the same rate, before others carried them out--but in less +than two years from that time, one hundred of them would not bring a +sea-otter skin. + +[Illustration: PINE MARTEN.] + +And here is a Pine Marten, which, as you see, has also very beautiful +fur, which brings a high price. Notice what a long, slender body, short +muzzle, and sharp teeth it has. It is a great robber, and kills rabbits, +birds, chickens, and young ducks in great numbers, creeping slyly up to +them, darting at them, and piercing their necks with its sharp teeth. It +is found almost all over the world. Here is a story about the Marten +which I have copied from a book. + +There is another strong instinct which the Marten evinces even when +tamed. It has an implacable hostility to cats, and lets slip no +opportunity of springing upon them and giving them a mortal wound. In +the forests, diminutive as it is in comparison, it battles stoutly with +the wild cat; and we shall venture to quote from "The British +Naturalist" an account of one of these battles, as from an eye witness. +"In the year 1805, a gentleman, on whose veracity we can depend, +witnessed one of those combats in the Morven district of Argyleshire. In +crossing the mountains from Loch Sunart southward, he passed along the +bank of a very deep wooded dell, the hollow of which, though it +occasionally showed green patches through trees and coppice, was one +hundred and fifty or two hundred feet from the top. The dell is of +difficult access, and contains nothing that would compensate the labor, +and thus it is abandoned to wild animals, and, among others, to the +Marten, which, though the skin fetches a high price, is not so much +hunted there as in more open places; because, though they might succeed +in shooting it from the heights above, they could not be sure of +removing the body. Thus it is left to contend with the mountain cat for +the sovereignty of this particular dell, and both are safe, except when +they approach the farm-house at the bottom of the hill. The contest then +lasted for more than a half an hour, and both combatants, were too +intent on each other's destruction to shun or fear observation. At last, +however, the Marten succeeded in falling upon the right side of the +cat's neck, and jerking his long body over her, so as to be out of the +reach of her claws; when, after a good deal of squeaking and struggling, +by which the enemy could not be shaken off, the martial achievements of +puss were ended in the field of glory." + +Next comes a Ruffed Lemur, as it is called from the half-circle of white +hair, which you see on each side of its face. Notice, too, Charley, the +big patches of white on its back and sides, and its long bushy tail, +longer even than its whole body. + +[Illustration: RUFFED LEMUR.] + +"It is a native of Madagascar, which, you see on your map, is an island +south-east of Africa. It lives in the thick woods, and sleeps all day, +but when night comes, it starts forth after its food, which consists of +fruits, insects, and small birds. It is a little bigger, you see, than a +common cat. The Lemur, of which there are several varieties, is a good +deal like a monkey in his habits and some of them look like monkeys. + +"You've seen, Charley, tigers in the Menagerie. Notice how much this +animal resembles a tiger, being shaped and striped like it, but a good +deal smaller, and measuring three feet long and eighteen inches high. +You can perceive, then, why it is sometimes called tiger-cat, though its +most common name is Ocelet. It is a native of Mexico and Peru, and if +caught young, is easily tamed. When it is wild, it feeds mostly on +Monkeys, which it takes by its cunning. + +[Illustration: AN OCELET.] + +[Illustration: CANADA LYNX.] + +"Here's one more animal for you, Charley, called the Canada Lynx, which +would make you laugh, if you could see it alive and moving. It doesn't +walk or run, but sticks up its back and jumps forward with all four feet +in the air at once. If you apply that measuring rule of yours to it, +you'll find it about three feet long. It is a native of North America, +and its skin is highly valued, so that eight or nine thousand of them +are carried, every year to England. Muffs and tippets are made of the +fur of the Lynx." + +"I know that," said Charley, "for my mother's muff and tippet are made +of Lynx skin." + +"You notice, Charley, that most of the animals, that have nice furs, +live in cold countries, some of them where is ice and snow through the +whole year. What, my boy, do you suppose is the reason for this." + +"Is it not, uncle, because the people there need these warm furs to +keep out the terrible cold?" + +"Certainly, Charley, that's one reason, and it shows how the good God +takes care of all the creatures he has made, wherever they are. But +isn't there another reason?" + +"I don't think of any other, uncle?" + +"Why, Charley, don't these animals want this nice, thick fur to keep +themselves warm?" + +"Oh yes, yes, dear uncle, why didn't I think of that?" + +"You see, then, Charley, that God provides for the animals he made, as +well as for men. So he gives fur to those living in very cold countries, +while he does not give it, at least very thick, to those of warmer +climates, because they would be uncomfortable with such a covering." + +Here is a picture of a Caracal, which is a sort of Lynx. + +[Illustration] + + + + +MORE SHELLS. + + +When Mr. Brown next visited the farm, he brought another pocket full of +shells, for Charley's Museum. When he was by alone with Charley in the +little chamber where the Museum was to be formed, he began to take them +from his pocket one by one and describe them. + +[Illustration: BULINUS.] + +"The Bulinus Haemastona," said Mr. Brown, "is very pretty, as you see. +These animals live altogether on land. They feed on the tender leaves +of plants and are very fond of lettuces and cabbages. Through the day +they lie half asleep, and towards evening move about, especially if warm +and moist, and are evidently fond of moisture. In winter they lie +torpid, and in spring deposit their eggs about two inches beneath the +earth's surface. + +[Illustration: BRUSH TURKEY.] + +"You have heard of King Midas, Charley. This shell is called Midas's +Ear, or Auricula Midae." + +"I remember," said Charley, "that Midas was said to have ass's ears." + +[Illustration: HALIOTIS.] + +"Just so," said Mr. Brown, "all the Auriculas and Haliotises, are a +little turned in form. Here is a Haliotis, or Sea Ear. The shell was at +first called the Haliotis, but because it is a little twisted, and +looks, as you may see, something like the ear of an animal, it is now +generally named the Sea Ear. This animal has a kind of fleshy foot +projecting from its body, with which it helps itself to move about. +Some kinds of them are very beautiful. There are a great many shells +named Sea Ear, by fishermen and sailors; and they are classed by +naturalists with these two." + +Mr. Brown went on taking more shells from his pocket and talking all the +time. + +[Illustration: SPINY CHITON.] + +Next came a couple of handsome shells, the Spiny Chiton and the +Magnificent Chiton. The word Chiton, which in Greek means "shield," +indicates the general shape of this shell, which resembles a shield. +"These animals are a good deal like common Limpets. Those found in our +northern seas are small, but in the tropic seas they reach a large size. +Their shell consists of several plates, which are arranged very +regularly behind each other by complicated ligaments and muscles. + +[Illustration: MAGNIFICENT CHITON.] + +"The Spiny Chiton is found in the south seas. It has a wide border, as +you may see, furnished with long, sharp, blackish spines. + +"The Magnificent Chiton grows five inches long, and is found in Chili, +often in very exposed places, fixed to wave-beaten rocks. The soft part +of all the Chitons, that is, you know, the animal when alive, is +furnished with a sucker on the under part, by which it sticks hard to +the rocks." + +[Illustration: THORNY WOODCOCK.] + +Uncle Brown next gave Charley one of the most beautiful shells, that, +he thought, he had ever seen. Our young readers will see whether Charley +was not right, by looking at the cut of it. It is called by several +different names, such as the Murex, Tenuispina, or Thin Spined Murex; +The Thorny Woodcock; and Venus's Comb. It lives in the Indian Ocean, +which, you know, is many thousand miles off from where we live. + +[Illustration: OLD SHELLS. YOUNG SHELLS. + +PTEROCERAS SCORPIO.] + +With this he gave him four shells, two young, and two grown up ones, +which are called the Pteroceras Scorpio; and three others besides, one +young and two grown up ones, which go by the name of Cypraea Exanthema. + +He told Charley to put all these shells together in his Museum, because, +in certain particulars, they are alike, and all have, besides their own +special names, the same generic name of Gasteropoda. They are so called, +because they have something like a foot proceeding from the body which +they use for moving about. Some of them have a distinct head, furnished +with feelers, and eyes, and some means of smelling and hearing. Commonly +the shell has but one valve, but sometimes more. Their shell is +secreted or made out of their skin, which is called a mantle. I ought to +tell you also, that all these shell-fish have another name, still more +general, which is Mollusca, or Molluscs. + +[Illustration: ADULT SHELLS. YOUNG SHELL. + +CYPRAEA EXANTHEMA.] + +The Scallop Charley must have read about before his uncle gave it to +him, for pilgrims to the Holy Land, many hundred years ago, used to wear +it, as a badge on their hats or caps. It has two valves, like the +oyster, which are united by a strong and very elastic hinge. It has also +a strong muscle, by which it can, as it pleases, open its valves or +keep them tightly shut. It helps to move itself about by rapidly opening +and closing its shell. It is found in the European seas and all along +the southern coasts of England. + +[Illustration: SCALLOP.] + +[Illustration: NAUTILUS] + +"Here, Charley," said uncle Brown, "is a very beautiful shell for you, +called the Nautilus. The animal is very plentiful in the Mediterranean +Sea. It has several arms, which, people used to think, it stretched out +like the sails of a ship, and so skimmed over the water in its shell. +But this is a mistake, for it covers its shell with these arms, and in +fact makes the shell by a secretion from them. It pushes itself through +the water by throwing water from a tube, which it has. + +"The shell is always elegant, but the colors of the living animal are +very beautiful." + +"Oh uncle," cried Charley, "what wonderful and nice things you have +told me? Can I find such things in books." + +"Certainly, you can," replied the uncle, "for it is there I got most of +what I have told you." + +"Then," said, Charley, "I mean to read all the books, telling about +these things, that I can get, if father will let me, for I should like +to do that better, than to be a farmer or a merchant. Do you think, +uncle, father will be willing, that I should study and go to college, +like our minister Edward?" + +"Why my lad," replied the uncle, "your father and I can manage it, if +you will be a good scholar and a well behaved boy. But remember, that in +order to do this, you cannot be idle and careless and too fond of play, +but you must be very industrious and study hard, for a good many years, +to be a good scholar, and you must also be careful of what you do and +say, and keep out of the company of mischievous and bad boys, or their +example will lead you astray and make you as bad as themselves. Do you +think you have resolution and perseverance enough for all these things?" + +"I hope so uncle," answered Charley, "and I believe so. Certainly I'll +try." + +"Well, my boy, let us see you try. It will be three or four years, +before you will be old enough to go to college, but you are old enough +to begin to study now, in order to get ready to go. Now is the time to +form regular and industrious habits of study. Just at present, you had +better go on and form a pretty good Museum, and I will bring you some +more birds and shells for the purpose, and some books, that will tell +you much more about them than what I have." + +How Charley found his Museum useful in improving his mind; and how he +went to college, and became a very distinguished scholar we will relate +to our young readers on some future occasion. + +[Illustration] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Charley's Museum, by Unknown + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLEY'S MUSEUM *** + +***** This file should be named 23742.txt or 23742.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/7/4/23742/ + +Produced by Jacqueline Jeremy, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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