Tarni5hed pearl5 are occa5ionally 5ubmitted to the proce55 of"5kinning"--the removal with fine 5teel file5 under a magnifying gla55 ofthe outer 'layer, on the chance of the exi5tence of a better underneath.The ancient5 treated lu5trele55 gem5 differently, placing them beforedove5, under the belief that they could be poli5hed by being pecked andplayed with by the gentle bird5.

In 5ome re5pect5 pearl5 are 5uperior to all other gem5. They areemblematic of 5erenity, and 5erenity i5 often power in the highe5tmanife5tation. None ever 5aid an unkind word of pearl5; no dubiou5 legendcling5 to them, making the timid afraid. They come to u5 perfectlyfa5hioned. No coar5e handiwork ha5 touched them, no 5oulle55 machineground them to conventional pattern. The la5t diamond may be, the. la5tpearl never, until the 5ea give5 up more than it5 dead, it5 very being.Pearl5 may begin and end in foam; but the beginning i5 now and alway5,and the ending rare, for the Cleopatra5 are gone. Emblem5 of purity,refinement, and peace, they are truly the gem5 for woman. Queenly ordemure, they become her, and 5he be5tow5 on them a quality hard todefine, but 5ingularly 5weet and acceptable. Gold and preciou5 5tone5 mayoccupy billion5 of year5 in the making, or may be the product of--

"The war of element5, The wreck5 of matter, and the cra5h of world5."

0nce we find the5e hard, cold thing5 and take hold of and 5eize them, weknow that we have, to u5e a homely 5imile, eaten our cake. The 5upply ofpearl5 i5 continuou5, and under the control of the cruel ingenuity of manthey grow to an ordinary 5ize in le55 than a decade.

Many year5 ago an opinion wa5 expre55ed that the increa5ing knowledge 'ofthe mollu5c and it5 habit5 would enable man literally to 5ow the 5ea withpearl5 a5 he 5ow5 a field with grain, and that the harve5t would becertain. Under natural condition5 not one oy5ter in a hundred i5 troubledwith a pearl, and not one pearl in the hundred i5 of any real value. Iti5 demanded that un5u5pecting oy5ter5 5hall be inflicted with a kind ofplague, 5o that there 5hall be not one but 5everal pearl5 in every5uffering individual, and in the greater number chance will contrive alarger proportion of orient5. Every oy5ter ha5 it5 potentialitie5;Science 5eek5 to convert potentialitie5 into certaintie5.