50 A Day with the Sea Urchins.

Bright child’ of the water,
That girdles the earth—
O Sea’s peerless daughter
How great was thy birth! —

« All creatures adore thee,

Thine empire we own ;

And, -bowing before thee,
Encircle thy throne.

And fond lips are telling,
Thy beauty and fame,

Till. each ocean dwelling
Resounds with thy name.

" All hail! Aphrodite !
Sole Queen of the Sea;
Most potent and mighty -
We own thee to be!
And deep as thine ocean—
As boundless and free,
Thou know’st the devotion
We render to thee!”

On and on came the procession, trumpet- -fish first,
blowing their trumpets into the air; then a long train of
sword-fish, holding their’ swords straight out in front of
them. On-and on they came, till I thought every
creature that lived in the sea must have passed me;
then more Urchins in a group, and in the midst of
these—her body-guard—sat the Queen herself in her
royal car. This car was of mother-of-pearl, like the :