IV
30. And Tom sat upon the buoy long days, long weeks, looking out to the sea and wondering when the water-babies would come back; and yet they never came.
31. Then he began to ask all the strange things which came in and out of the sea if they had seen any; and some said "Yes," and some said nothing at all. He asked the bass and the pollock; but they were so greedy after the shrimps that they did not care to answer him a word.
32. Then there came in a whole fleet of purple sea snails, floating along, each on a sponge full of foam, and Tom said: "Where do you come from, you pretty creatures? and have you seen the water-babies?"
33. And the sea snails answered: "Whence we come, we know not; and whither we are going, who can tell? We float out our life in the mid-ocean, with the warm sunshine above our heads and the warm Gulf Stream below; and that is enough for us. Yes, perhaps we have seen the water-babies. We have seen many strange things as we sailed along."
And they floated away, the happy, stupid things, and all went ashore upon the sands.
34. Then there came in a great, lazy sunfish, as big as a fat pig cut in half; and he seemed to have been cut in half, too, and squeezed in a clothes-press till he was flat; but to all his big body and big fins he had only a little rabbit's mouth, no bigger than Tom's; and when Tom questioned him he answered him in a little, squeaky, feeble voice:
35. "I'm sure I don't know; I've lost my way. I meant to go to the Chesapeake, and I'm afraid I've got wrong somehow. Dear me! it was all by following that pleasant warm water. I'm sure I've lost my way."
And when Tom asked him again, he could only answer: "I've lost my way. Don't talk to me; I want to think."
36. Then there came up a shoal of porpoises, rolling as they went—papas and mammas and little children—and all quite smooth and shiny, because the fairies French polish them every morning; and they sighed so softly as they came by that Tom took courage to speak to them; but all they answered was, "Hush, hush, hush!" for that was all they had learned to say.
Tom and the lobster
37. And then Tom left the buoy and used to go along the sands and round the rocks, and come out in the night and cry and call for the water-babies; but he never heard a voice call in return. And at last, with his fretting and crying, he grew lean and thin.
38. But one day among the rocks he found a playfellow. It was not a water-baby, alas! but it was a lobster; and a very distinguished lobster he was, for he had live barnacles on his claws, which is a great mark of distinction in lobsterdom.
39. Tom had never seen a lobster before, and he was mightily taken with this one, for he thought him the most curious, odd, ridiculous creature he had ever seen; and there he was not far wrong, for all the ingenious men and all the scientific men and all the fanciful men in the world could never invent, if all their wits were boiled into one, anything so curious and so ridiculous as a lobster.
40. He had one claw knobbed and the other jagged; and Tom delighted in watching him hold on to the seaweed with his knobbed claw while he cut up salads with his jagged one, and then put them into his mouth after smelling at them like a monkey.
41. Tom asked him about water-babies. Yes, he said, he had seen them often. But he did not think much of them. They were meddlesome little creatures that went about helping fish and shells which got into scrapes. Well, for his part, he would be ashamed to be helped by little, soft creatures that had not even a shell on their backs. He had lived quite long enough in the world to take care of himself.
42. He was a conceited fellow, the old lobster, and not very civil to Tom. But he was so funny and Tom so lonely that he could not quarrel with him; and they used to sit in holes in the rocks and chat for hours.
I. Bŭr´rō̍ws̝: holes in the ground made for homes by certain animals. Hȯv´ẽrs̝: covers; shelters. Swĩrl´ĭng: whirling. Strĭds: passages between steep rocks or banks, so narrow that they look as if they might be crossed at a stride. Căt´ȧ răcts: great falls of water over steep places.
II. Bärġ´ĕs̝: roomy boats to carry goods or passengers, Ha̤ws̝´ẽrs̝: large ropes. Buoy: a floating object chained in place to mark a channel or to show the position of something under the water, as a rock. Bȧss, Mŭl´lĕt: kinds of fish.
III. Tẽrns̝, Gŭlls̝: long-winged seabirds. Sēa-pīes̝: shore birds, sometimes called oyster catchers. Ȧ wrȳ´: twisted toward one side.
IV. Pŏl´lȯck: a sea-fish something like the cod. Pleasant warm water: the Gulf Stream. What can you tell about it? Shōal: a great number; a crowd—said especially of fish. Pôr´pȯis ĕs̝: sea animals. Bär´nȧ cles̝:small shell fish which fasten themselves on rocks, timbers, other animals, etc.
We trout lead a happy life. We swim about in the brooks. We shine like silver as we dart to and fro in the clear, cool water. We play in the shallow water; we hide in the deep pools. On warm days we lie in the shadow of the rocks.
Change the sentences so that only one trout shall speak: as, I lead a happy life.
Do not think of your faults, still less of others' faults; in every person who comes near you, look for what is good and strong; honor that; rejoice in it; and, as you can, try to imitate it; and your faults will drop off like dead leaves when their time comes.
RUSKIN