The Day of Wonders, a Medley (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1879 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XX. SNAIL SURGERY. iJ was a Snail, windowed in from the cold." "T T OW do you do?" said Harry, as soon as he J-understood snail-language, but as snails are deaf he had no answer. "I can manage to make him understand you, in spite of his deafness, as this is a day of wonders," said S, and he did manage, accordingly. "He is a curious, warm, dry creature, and very ugly," the Snail remarked, looking at Harry. "And I was just thinking that you were a curious, cold, shiny creature, and very ugly; but why do you call me curious?" asked the little boy. "Because you are so odd altogether," answered the Snail; "your eyes are fixed in your head, like spots in an apple." "And pray where are yours?" "Here, at the tips of my horns; oh, please don't touch them How would you like anybody to poke at your eyes in that way?" "I could shut them," said Harry. "And I can do much better; I can draw them in altogether, so that they are inside a sheath, and nothing can hurt them without first breaking through the sheath." Harry thought that he would never again tease a snail by touching its horns, to see it quickly draw them in, now he knew that this is, in reality, a snail's way of winking when something hurts its eyes. "I won't hurt snails any more," he said to S. "It is wonderful how quickly snails can cure themselveswhen they are really very much hurt," said S; " they. mend their shells after an accident in a very short time, and so neatly that you cannot see any join; the pattern of the new piece looks brighter, that is all." "But that is only like mending a house," said Harry shrewdly, for he was a thoughtful little boy; "the shell is not the snail." "No, indeed, but the snail has to make his shell out of nothing at all, or out of himself, he has not materials, as ...