Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-04-23
OYSTER AS A MOTHER.


r--l
She is Lazy and Very NsgIigent---H She
Were Careful Oysters Would Cover
the Earth.
Submarine circles are scandalized, at-
cording to a very learned man, Prof.
Herdman, who has been lecturing be-
fore a very learned audience, the Ma
theological Society of London, on ''rhs
Culture OF the Edible Oyster" He dis
closes a state OF things which amounts
to little less than a crying scandal In
submarine circles-a scandal compared
with which the Massacre of the Inno-
cents Is a dewdrop to the Pacific
Ocean. The ordinary man knows but
little of the life of the oyster until It
appears, inviting deglutition, upon its
half-shell ut table. He regards family
life as sacred, and judges the oyster
solely on it's public form. To him the
oysters past is nothing; he Is only con-
ceyned with its immediate future.
The learned lecturer, however, had
no such scruples, and, after the man.
ner of scientists" turned the daylight
OF the magic.lantern upon the oysters
trnderest and most intimate family re-
lations. The result, as we have limited,
was revelation of an astonishing
state Of things.
from Prof. Herdmans researches that
the oyster is doing its very best 10
lower its own price; and TO that extent
we may commend 1t, and even enconr-
age it to further efforts. If you buy
single oyster, and instead Of eating it
forthwith, put it in nice, comfortable
place, where it will be free from worry,
and leave it there for season you Will
find that under favorable conditions
that oyster has started family of six
teen millions, which will not only afford
you an ample meal for yourself, but
leave enough over to send around 10
your more intimate acquaintances.
II. however, you still postpone your
enjoyment, and leave your oysters to-
live their own lives in comfort, yOI
will find that ut the end Of the next
season that you have between two or
three millions of billions of oysters,
which you may easily ascertain 70 be
sufficient for all people that on earth
10 dwell, il everybody in the world had
an oyster supper every night for year.
If this sort of thing went on for few
years more, there would be room in the
world for nothing but oysters. Oysters
would have to sup on us, instead of FUR.
nishing forth our suppers, and the
shells would lie twenty deep all over The
earth.
Now, all this is not i'm the least fanci.
full; it is simple arithmetic. Why are
they not a penny billion, as they
should be? Prof. Herdman knows why,
and he told the Neurological Society.
IT Is no good mincing matters. Much.
as we may admire the oyster we can
not blind ourselves to its faults, nor re-
frain from pointing them out to an in.
lerested public. The oyster, though so
excellent a companion at lunch or at
dinner, or at supper, is grossly incouI-
petent as wife and mother. Her
family is large; but she takes no pains
to keep it out of mischief. She is-we
must speak plainly-lazy.
She does not keep her children,
which she calls 'spat" at home, and
bring them up carefully: she let's them
run about all over the place, and tuiu-
bic into the first herring that comes
along. She is quite negligent. This Ia
the more reprehensible since the dan
gers that surround the infant oyster are
innumerable. The taste for
oysters is by no means confined to the
human race. There is scarcely n thing
that swims which Is not on the look
out for them, and the oyster is quite as
much sought after in the sea as In the
CITY.
But little Imagination is required TO
picture the result of this shocking negli.
ccnce on the part of the maternal
oyster. Out of a family which with due
care would number sixteen million. she
be'dom rears more than dozen. Thus
we are face to face with problem. We
IIove to grapple with the fact that year
10y year hundreds of billions Of fresh
young lives are cut off before they have
well realized what it is to live. To
them the world opens but to close again
la darkness and the tomb; it is but enc
step from the cradle to the grave.
Something surely can be done to stem
the terrible tide of destruction which
bvcrwhelms so many Of these innocent
creatures. We cannot even be sure
that 1t is the most succulent that SUI
vive.