Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1865-02-10
THE OYSTER.
- There lives and works
A soul in all things, and that soul is God.

I
CowPER.
In London alone upwards of one hundred thousand
bushels of Oysters annually consumed, while
our neighborS the Scotch no less fond of this
delicate little she'll fish the good folks of Edin
burg eating them during the season at the rate OF
seven thousand three hundred day. Few, how
ever of the many thousand English CaledonianS
who thus feast, know more than the name and Ia
YOUR of the poor native they swallow. Of bis nat
ural history, his habits of life, his wondrOus and
beautiful structure, they know little or nothing
And yet, perhaps, in no one of his creatures, are
the wisdom and goodness of God to be seen more
plainly.
Some l66 years ago, Dr. Sprat, then Bishop Of
Rochester, who with his friend Wilkins, and Sir
Christopher Wren, was laying the foundation Of
Royal Society, graVey proposed an oyster bed as
subject we'll worthy Of careful study and enquiry.
Hosts of wise men, since the Bishops day, have
thought and said the same thing; though, until Of
late years, little more has been generally known Of
our friend, the oyster than he lived in bivalVe
SHE'LL quiet meditative life, opening and shutting
his mansion as the tide came and went go.
Now, however, his biography has been carefully
and pleasantly written by more than one Of our
abest men, 50 that have little trouble in sketch
ing, for the readers of the Penny Post brief out
line of his life. To begin, then: the young oys
serling into life not as a staid respectable
house holder, residing in one fixed home in pop
ulous neighborhood-but as a very minute point
of oyster like appearance, simply endowed with
mouth and shoulders, pair of wing like lobeS on
either side without body or legs. He is now all
life and motion, carried hitier and thther in all
directions by every chance wave, now far down in
the depths
where the sea-hower spreads its leaves Of blue,
That never are wet with ssliing des, - -
But in bright and changeful beauty shine
Far down in the deep and CLASSY brine"
And in another minute lightly fitting upwards
towards the light sparkle of the surface, or skim
ming swiftly above the heads Of his quiet, still,
and steady relations below. During this period of
his existence, the oyster has many enemies and is
| exposed to many danger and peril Fishes large
and small are ready on all sdes to swallow him. as
! we'll as many crawling and creeping foe smOng
the seaweedS and sedges; so that his best chance
of escape lies in not obtruding their notice
! than he can nelp.
After this stage of existence, the oysterlng aban
! dons his rowing life, and settles down qneL
! spectacle fish, living in a bvalve shell, which in
creases in thickness and in SIZE every successive
| year. He reaches perfection and maturity in about
| five six years and his age is to be found out
not by looking the size and length of his beard
! but by examining bis back. lfyou look at the back
of an oystershell you will it is composed of sue
cessive layers, or "shOots," as the fishermen term
them, which overlap each other. Each of these
| shoots mark a years growth, so that in most
| cases the oysters age may be easily decided.
|
but lie almost evenly on the other so that the
shell ceases to be enlarged while 1t increases in
| thickness
How wisely, then, and with what beauty has the
hand Of G ID arranged for the safety and welfare
even Of the thousand creeping things that inhabit
the wide sea.
As the little oyster grows apace, and requires
more room, his shell increases in such a way to
give what is needed by spreading at its outer edge;
and when he has become perfect and mature, need
! ing no more space the walls Of his house are no
longer enlarged, bat Strengthened and thIckened by
layers on the outside. Even then, however, the
oyster is still exposed to risk though his shell
be thus made strong, and he clings to most firmly
by the and of flores and muscles fitted for the pur
pose
When he ncautiously yawDs too widely, the star
fish is said to ntrude long f1ner-like ray inside,
| and thrust him from his home; while on the out
| side, the whelk with great incessant toll, bores
hole through his upper shell, as the teredo, or
ger-worm borer into the oak plank of our ships
Thus, in his quiet shell lives the oyster, happy
and contented. The wide sea itself ministers TO
him. every wave and billow that passes bringing
fresh and pleasant food well as fresh air. with
little trouble or exert, the part Of the quiet
| tive.
| Our good friend, Bishop Sprat was inclined to
believe that oysters masculine and feminine were TO
be distinguished from the color of their boards But
since his day we have looked into the matter some
what ClOhtiy, duu huaI nnhS VIC Gail
boards are only exqustely fine frnges, which serve
the oysters instead of lungs. And as all must
breathe to live every oyster both male and female
has beard. ..-.
All water, as we know, contains Dir, and every
drop that passes inside the oyster shell, not only
brings in it meat and drink, but also fresh air,
which the countless millions of ibers forming the
beard, instantly suck in. So minute are these
fiberS, as only 10 be visible by the aid of power
full microscope which shows them to US covered
with millions of still more minute rays of fringe
all heaving and beating, as it were, with one regu
lar pulse.
Every one of these countless points of fringe is
repiete with life each telling Of the Divine hand
which, at the first arranged all FITS wondrous and
beautiful mechanism
So wonderous is this mechanism, so perpetualt its
UNMARRIED motion, that one Of the earliest Of the
Dutch natnralists, who examined the beard of an
oyster through a microscope was astounded at
what he saw. "The motion I saw" says be, /" in
the small component parts of it was so incredibly
great, that could not be satisfied with the specta
Gle; and it is not so in the mind of man to conceive
all the motions which beheld within the compass
of grain of sand"
No less wondrous is the whole bodily structure
of the oyster; NO less full of beauty and wisdom.
If the Dutchman could have looked through the
more perfect microscope of our day, ne would have
found less cause for wonder in every mnutest part
of the oysters frame.
The oyster has many relations who, like himself,