I Go A-Pearling	153
	more or less lavishly with "mother-of-pearl". This gives it a different look from pearls which are pearly right through. Nevertheless, the cult of the cultured pearl has given many a lady what she longs for—a real pearl necklace of handsome appearance. For cultured pearls, even if they are not true aristocrats, are at least not imitations, and thus are fitted to give satisfaction to the feminine heart. A doc­tor in one of Anatole France's novels deals satirically with that longing. "I often see children with strawberry marks," he says, "whose mothers say that they desired strawberries before their birth. I am waiting to see a baby marked with a pearl necklace."