Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-05-28
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

He made q Cham nuisance out Of
himself, he suspected, but that made
no difference. Radio fans" talked
radio-or, at least, they did once-to
the disgust Of the rest Of the world:
Book lovers talked books, base ball
addicts spoke long ana lovingly ABOUT
their games, the entire world was spnt
up into groups. all talking their neads
of on their particular subjects.
So Jones bought a clam.
It was a neat fellow, about the Size OF
an fashioned dollar watch.
Its thickness impressed Jones.
Here was q fellow who could take
care Of himself, in a pool tnnaplteo py
three miniature carp Ito wit, goldnsn'
six tadpoles and two snais.
Surely the greedy goldfish would not
bother his thick shell, but would be gao
to let him alone.
If they managed to get their nose into
his shell at all, no doubt he would
pinch down on them good.
Jones put his fist into the pool, ana
, released the clam, which thereuDon
sank down to the sandy floor as II by
right Of eminent domain.
Well, 1t was a pool, now!
It had a clam.
Jones surveyed the round OF water
with a critical eye.
He could image better pools, but 1t
| looked very nice, at that, despite the
| fact that the japanese iris in the BACK
| ground had as yet grown little, and the
cattail was more or less standing still,
in horticultural sense.
The clam would set them all up.
He would be a good influence, In that
round of life, that sunk tub filled with
earth, bonemeal, sand, one root OF Odo-
| rata minor, and so on.
Jones had made a vast improvement
removing from the floor the inch or so
| of ordinary builders sand, which he
| had placed there.
None Of his books or catalogues had
| specified white aquarium sand. SO he
had used some plain brown sand, which
he had on hand
| 1t was a mistake, and he wanted us
to pass his acquired wisdom on to others
who might be interested in the subject.
Tell EN-" said he, never to use
plain sand, but to get this white sand.
The other sort tends to make the water
dirty, but the white sand keeps it nice
and clear, and above all furnishes a
pleasant background for the fish and
oxygenating plants. The use of this
sand has improved the appearance OF
my pool at least 1000 per cent"
We thought Jones was going to tell
us something about my clam" too. so
We hastily said We had an engagement
up the street.
It was only later that we learned
what happened to the clam. Alas!
There it had been. reposing gently on
the sanded floor. the very picture of
health.
The next morning when Jones went
out to make his early inspection of the
water garden. there wasn't anything
| left but the shell.
The greedy goldfish had cleaned the
poor clam out as completely as If they
| had done it with a knife.
There was not a shred left inside the
shell, which gaped widely, upside down.
The goldfish looked quite we'll salts
| fed with themselves. and kicked up
! their heels around the pool after the
tadpoles' tails.
But the latter merely wiggled furtively,
giving the little carp the slip. The
snailS were intact. The round Of Ma
ture was still round, and peace brooded
upon the waters.
But the clam was gone.
Templeton Jones felt quite bad about
it. He thought of building clam cage,
out of wire, and getting a new clam to
put in it.
No pool. he said, could be considered
complete without one.