The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1904-01-26
STORY OF AN OYSTER
TOLD BY HIMSELF ABOUT HIMSELF
AND HIS TRIBE.

The Trials and fluctuations of the
suceuIent BIynIve From the Time
of Planting Until His Appearance
ON the Fishmonser's Counter.
There were about 100000 of us when,
as tiny fakes of spawn-or "spat," as
the oyster spawn is called-we foated
out into the water one day on "the
fats"
At first we were white and apparent
ly lifeless. Then we turned gray and
finally black. At this stage we became
visibly alive. For several days we
/, fioated, the sport of waves and tides.
Some of my brothers were carried ont
to sea and so vanished; others We're
swallowed by fish. At last we all be-
gan instinctiyely to sink toward the
bottom.
Then began again terrible destruc-
ton. Many fell on mud--the most ia
tai thing young oyster can do. These
persisted at once. Others attached
themselves to plants and weeds which
grow at the bottom OF the sea. They
lived for time-so long at least as the
plant remained alive. Then, when the
plant died. they persisted as well.
Fortunately for myself, l drifted on
to bit of ''cultch"-that is to say, one
of the. old shells which the dredgers
and oyster men so carefully scatter all
over the sea floor of. an oyster bed. l
settled with my deep shell uppermost
and my fiat or right shell nearer the
ground. AT the time l did not know
why | did this. have since realized
that 1t was because in that position l
should be more easily able to eject the
sand and grit which rough sea some
times stirs up in shallow water | at
tached myself firmly to my anchorage
OF "cultch' and felt myself at last fair
ly started in life
Soon noticed that every single NOR
sci OF Shell or stone around me was
tenanted 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 ami
malculn, which an oyster loves best,
was plentiful. When the water was
thick with 1t, we all opened our shells
wide, and, making currents in the wa.
ter by means of the tiny hairs which
fringe our gills and which men call our
boards, we washed the dainties into
our mouths. Our choicest delicacies
were the minute green algn, which
give to full grown oysters that greenish
tinge that Is the mark of the aristo-
cratic native.
When first anchored myself, was
but the twentieth of an inch in dame
ter-so small, indeed, that microscope
would have been necessary TO examine
me. At that stage my shell was per-
fectly 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 had been learn
ing many things. found out that 1t
was necessary to close my shell tight
when dangers Of various kinds threat
ened, Ehen the tide was low or, in win
ter, when frost was severe. You may
perhaps imagine that an oyster Is a
creature Of such low organism that it
cannot see or feel much of what is 60
ing on round about it. But you are
wrong. The mantle fringe of an oyster
Is very sensitive. II 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.
1t was necessary to be most careful.
Dangers We're many and terrible. Sea
urchins prowled among us and dc.
voured many. But of all our foes the
worst is the five fingered startish. One
of my sisters. anchored not n yard
away, fell victim 10 this terror ct
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 chung there
until on the second day after its first
grip she, poor thing, opened her shell
TO get mouthful Of food. At once the
starfish injected into her fluid which
stupetied her SO that she could not
close again. Then the monster turned
itself inside out, shot itself into the
open shell and devourcd her
Then, one day year after had
floated as "spat," came startling
change in my existence. Something
huge and heavy came out of the shad-
ow of boat above and approached,
rasping and grating along the bottom
1t was great triangular dredge of
wrought iron. At the bottom was
fiat bar with blunt edge, known to
the dredgers as the "bit."
As the "bit' approached It scraped
the bottom of the sea clean, and next
instant l, TOO, found myself lifted and
dropped into the net, together with
hundreds like myself and miscel-
laneous collection of small soles and
other things.
One of the men sorted over the catch
and, having selected all the oysters
and spat, shaded" the rest back into
the sea through a portfolio.
I, in company with enormous guam.