e droops down on purpose for
them to peck at.

Now if the baby were only here, you could seat him on these broad, flat
leaves, with delicate spires all along the edges, and all of so deep a
crimson they surely would attract any child.

What a queer flower! like the backbone of a fish with all the little
bones at the side standing out stiff and pointed, and all in pinks and
purples.

Right in the midst of another plot of thick, flat leaves rises a mass of
pink sea-lilies, and they are beautiful; but do examine the next bed of
leaves. Are they not curious? A thick, hollow-looking stem goes through
the middle of them, and on one side of the stem they are a deep pink, on
the other side, yellow.

Here are flowers shaped like horns and trumpets. What a forest of pinks,
greens, and yellows! And here are the greens. Such greens as you have
never seen before.

Now suppose you were going to have a party. What decorations you could
have if only the ocean blooms would keep fresh for you to use. There
would be masses of fine furze that would be perfectly beautiful to crowd
over the pictures; silky threads that, placed on creeping green plants,
would look lovely carried along the table; yellow flowers in the midst
of masses of fine sea-mosses, and sea-ferns would make your little mates
wonder where the fresh, strange things grew.

And there could he yards and yards of ribbons. Ribbons? Yes, long, long
sprays of yellowish green sea-ribbon, four or five inches wide, going
down to narrower ones not more than an inch in width.

Perhaps you would like some sea-thistles. Here they are, in thick
bunches, fine and hairy, in faint, fair shades of green. And what can
this be that looks so much like a sponge? Ah, it is a tuft of moss with
green spires shooting up in the middle.

Take care! Here are bunches of cactus with prickly leaves. Look out!
don't catch your toe in those sea-ferns. Even that sweet green
maiden-hair fern might pin down your foot so firmly that it would take a
fish's sharp tooth to set you free.

You may ask, why are not these beautifully colored and curiously shaped
things brought on shore and sold, as they might be, for much money? And
why are they not at least put where Folks can see, learn about them, and
admire them?

But wait a moment; what would be the effect if any one took a bunch of
your garden roses, pinks, or lilies, put them under water, and kept them
there? They would very soon be a drooping, shape