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Entered according to Act of Congress, in June, 1867, by J. W. Burke & Cos., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the So. District of Georgia.
Vol. I.
GEORGE’S AQUARIUM.
IH story we are now
about to tell is of an
fn •#|uaquarium which Jane
&e hWq made for George, her
' ' " brother. If you do not
mS\ know what an aquarium is, read,
JAy an fl you will know.
One day George and his mother
came to a gateway, under some
trees, which opened from the main
road to the private grounds of a coun
try house. George’s mother entered
this gateway, saying that she was go
ing to make a call upon the lady that
lived in. the house.
While his mother was engaged with
the lady of the house, in the parlor, a
young lady named Maria took George
out into a back hall, to show him her
aquarium.
This aquarium was a sort of box,
which stood upon a little table; it had
sides and ends of glass, so that George
could look in and see what there was
inside.
The aquarium was nearly full of wa
ter, and in the water there were a
great many little fishes and various
other “ live things,” as George called
them, all swimming and erawlingabout.
The bottom of it was covered with
gravel and pebbles, and upon these
were a number of plants that looked
like sea-weed. In one corner there were
tufts of beautiful green sprigs growing
up half-way to the top of the water. —
Some of the fishes were nibbling these
sprigs, and others were swimming about
among them; and on one side four or five
little snails were crawling up on the glass.
They had no legs, and George wondered
how they could crawl. He watched one
of them a long time, and saw plainly that
he moved slowly along, but George could
not possibly imagine how he did it.
MACON - , G-A., SEPTEMBER 7, 1867.
George remained looking at the move
ments of the animals in the aquarium a
long time, and at length, when his moth
er sent for him to come to her, he left the
place very unwillingly. On his way
home he told his mother what he had
seen, and begged her to get him an aqua
rium. But all that he could get her to
promise was, that she “would see about
it.”
When, however, ho came to tell the
•m $~ ■
'iM •?■ ■yfi/Xr <^7' , 'v
story to his sister Jane, she said that she
would get him what he desired.
“Good!” cried George. “A real one?”
“ Why, not exactly a real one,” said
Jane ; “ that is not such a one as Maria’s.
But I can make you one that will do very
well to begin with, and if you like it, and
don’t get tired of it, and don’t make any
trouble with it, then perhaps your mother
will get you a better one by-and-by.”
So Jane went to the china closet, and
there, from the top of a high shelf, she
took down a large glass jar. It was a
jar that preserved peaches had once been
put up in.
Jane carried the jar out to the garden,
and set it upon a table that she placed
there for it in a corner. The situation of
it was convenient for George to see every
thing in it, when it should be filled.
“ This aquarium is round, and the one
you saw was square,” said Jane, “but
that will not make any great difference.
How we must get something to put in
it. We must have some pebble-stones
for the bottom, and water-grass, and
some water; and then as many little
animals as we can find.”
So Jane brought a small tin pail and
a long-handled tin mug or dipper.—
She also brought a small basket to
bring homo the pebbles in.
Jane and George then took a walk
into the woods behind the garden, and
first gathered up some pebbles from
the bottom of the brook. George put
the pebbles in the basket, and then be
gan to look into the water for animals.
lie found a few little creatures, but
not many, for the water ran too swift
ly in the brook for them to live there;
so after a while Jane proposed that
they should go to the pond.
The pond was at some distance fur
ther in the woods. The way to it was
by a path which went winding in
among rocks and bushes for a quarter
of a mile. The pond was small, and the
water in it was still. This allowed plants
to grow and animals to thrive and multi
ply, and here George found a large num
ber of specimens. He dug up some plants
from the mud, at the margin of the pond
and put them into the bottom of his pail.
Then wftli the dipper he fished up all the
little wriggling spin-rounds that he could
see in the water, and a number of crawl
ing things which he saw on the bottom.
He had always been afraid of such wrig-
No. 10.