JANUARY 24: In the Fish Bowl
“There was once a little girl named Susan,” said daddy, “who had in her room a great big glass bowl which held some helleries.”
“What are helleries?” of course asked Evelyn.
“They are fresh-water fish that live in climates where the water is sure always to be very warm. Susan also kept some snails in the water with the helleries.
“The helleries are about the size of minnows, but of a different shape, being more round than the minnows are.”
“One day Susan saw the big hellery daddy trying to chase the mother hellery around so that she could not get hold of any of the little ones. Susan grabbed the mother hellery and put her quickly into a glass of water that was standing near by. The next thing Susan did was to count the little helleries and, to her delight, she found that all the twenty were quite alive. But they had evidently been very much frightened, for they were all in a corner of the bowl, as near to the daddy hellery as possible, and the big daddy hellery was quiet and seemed to be much relieved that the danger was over. The snails, as you can imagine, were only too glad to rest once more. Susan gave them all some delicious fish food to comfort them.
“And she kept the mother hellery in a separate bowl until the little ones were grown up, and then she was welcomed back.”
“Why was she kept in a separate bowl?” asked Jack.
“Because the mother hellery doesn’t care for her children until they are big, and she might harm them. But the daddy loves them, even when they are little bits of things!”