"

"Yes, indeed!" the beautiful shell replied. "So I was placed along with
a lot of other shells in the bottom of the boat and every once in a
while another shell was placed amongst us. We whispered together and
wondered where we were going. We were finally sold to different people
and I have been at Gran'ma's house for a long, long time."

"You lived there when Gran'ma was a little girl, didn't you?" Raggedy
Ann asked.

"Yes," replied the shell, "I have lived there ever since Gran'ma was a
little girl. She often used to play with me and listen to me sing."

"Raggedy Ann can play 'Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater' on the piano, with
one hand," said Uncle Clem, "but none of us can sing. Will you sing for
us?" he asked the shell.

"I sing all the time," the shell replied, "for I cannot help singing,
but my singing is a secret and so is very soft and low. Put your head
close to the opening in my shell and listen!"

The dolls took turns doing this, and heard the shell sing softly and
very sweetly.

"How strange and far away it sounds!" exclaimed the French doll. "Like
fairies singing in the distance! The shell must be singing the songs of
the mermaids and the water-fairies!"

"It is queer that anything so rough on the outside could be so pretty
within!" said Raggedy Andy. "It must be a great pleasure to be able to
sing so sweetly!"

"Indeed it is," replied the beautiful shell, "and I get a great
happiness from singing all the time."

"And you will bring lots of pleasure to us, by being so happy!" said
Raggedy Andy. "For although you may not enter into our games, we will
always know that you are happily singing, and that will make us all
happy!"

"I will tell you the secret of my singing," said the shell. "When anyone
puts his ear to me and listens, he hears the reflection of his own
heart's music, singing; so, you see, while I say that I am singing all
the time, in reality I sing only when someone full of happiness hears
his own singing as if it were mine."

"How unselfish you are to say this!" said Raggedy Andy. "Now we are ever
so much more glad to have you with us. Aren't we?" he asked, turning to
the rest of the dolls.

"Yes, indeed!" came the answer from all the dolls, even the tiny penny
dolls.

"That is why the shell is so beautiful inside!" said Raggedy Ann. "Those
who are unselfish may wear rough clothes, but inside they are always
beautiful, just like the shell, and reflect to others the happiness an