The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1904-04-22
STORY OE AN OYSTER,


the oyster spawn is called-we floated
out into the water one day on "the
flats"
At first we were white and appar-
emily lifeless. Then we turned gray
and finally black. At this stage we
became yisibly alive. For several
days we foated, the sport of waves aud
tides. Some of my brothers were
carried out to sea and 50 vanished;
others were swallowed by fish. At
last we all began instinctively to sink
toward the bottom.
Then began again terrible destruc-
ton. Many fell on mud-the must
fatal thing young oyster can do.
These perished at once. Others at
tacbed themselves to plants and weeds
which grow at the bottom of the sea.
They lived for a time-so long at least
as the plant remained alive. Then,
when the plant died, they persisted as
we'll.
Fortunately for myself, l drifted on
to bit OF "cultch'- is to say,
one of the old shells which the dred-
gers and oyster men so carefully scat.
ter all over the sea floor of an oyster
bed. l settled with my deep shell
uppermost and my flat or right shell
nearer the ground. At the time l
did not know why did this. l have
since realized that it was because in
that position should be more easily
able to eject the sand and grit which
a rough sea sometimes stirs up in
shallow water. l attached myself
firmly to my anchorage of "cultch''
and felt myself at last fairly started
in life.
Soon l noticed that every single
morsel or shell or stone around me was
tenated by tiny oysters, all lying in
the same position as myself and all
firmly anchored.
There lay, unmoving, for nearly
a year. Food, in the shape of tiny
animalcule, which an oyster loves best,
was plentiful. When the water was
thick with it, we all opened our shells
wide, and, making currents in the
water by means Of the tiny hairs
which fringe our gills and which men
call our boards, we washed the dain-
ties into our mouths. Our choicest
delicacies were the minute green alga,
which give to full grown oysters that
greenish tinge that is the mark of the
aristocratic native.
When l first anchored my self, l
was but the twentieth of an inch in
diameter-so small, indeed, that a
microscope would have been neces-
sary to examine me. At that stage
my shell was perfectly transparent.
At the end of ten months l had in
creased in diameter to fully the size
of dime and become what is called
"brood."
During all this time l had been
learning many things. l found out
that it was necessary to close my shell
tight when dangers of various kinds
threatened, when the tide was low or,
IN winter, when frost was severe. You
may perhaps imagine that an oyster
is creature Of such low orgadlsm that
it cannot see or feel much of what is
going on round about it. But you
"rc wrong. The mantle fringe of an
y ,t,l is very sensitive. If you
watched us from boat in calm water,
you would see that the mere shadow
of the boat crossing an oyster bed will
cause those of us upon whom it falls
to close our shells Immediately.
It was necessary to be most care
full. Dangers were many and terrible.
Sea urchins prowled among us and
dewoured many. But of all our foes
the worst is the five fingered starfish.
One of my sisters, anchored not a
yard away, fell victim to this terror
of the oyster beds. 1t clutched her
with its long fingers. She closed her
shell.
But the creature was not to be shak-
en- off. Hour after hour 1t clung there
until on the second day after It's first
grip she, poor thing, opened her she'll
to get a mouthful of food. At once
the starfish injected into her a fluid
which stupefied her so that she could
not close again. Then the monster
turned itself inside out, shot itself into
the open she'll and devoured her.
Then, one day a year after | had
foated as "spat,' came startling
change in my existence. Something
huge and heavy came out of the shad-
ow of boat about and approached,
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