Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1866-07-11

These hsticufs in Congress have been a living
disgrace to our nation. b K.
Natural History for the Little
Folks
LANDSCAPE UNDER THE SEA.
| The sea has its mountains, as well as those
deep valleys which are filled by wrecks of vce-
| sels and by thousands Of strange things. Far
down In the bottom of the sea, almost cove Ell
| by mud and slime, there can be found cannons
and chests filed with gold from the various
mines of The earth, all covered over with mus
| cles that have grown to them. There are the
great bones OF whales, which no harpoon was
able to subdue. Here, in ole part OF the
sea, there deep abysses there, a tar ex-
| tended white desert; and IN another place,
| huge mountain cliffs rise up; and in the
mountain defles, well in the desert
there are multitudes of objects that have gone
down there, and lain ior ages.
The sea Is the grave of life, but it is grave
yard which is never filled up. Millions upon
| millions of bodies lie there, and have lam
there ior long time. 1t is d scene OF endless
slaughter. For there, the most fearful bat
ties take place and there is the home oi the
most despotlc beasts of prey. Hatred of the
worst kind dwelis 10 these cold and unfeeling
waters For 1t is only by the destruction Of
| lite That he life OF other sea fish can be pre-
served. w hales and sharks and ali kin Is OF
| large fish are supported by eating smaller FISH
and these smaller fish glide through the Wa
ter, shining IN their beautiful colors and they
live on other fish still smaller than themselves
Ii Is scene of universal murder But no
sound OF battle, no shrek OF pain, no reioic-
ing OF victory Is ever heard by our ears. The
battles are conducted In secret stiffness, and
the waves lell US nothing of them.
But yet the the element of life to
numberless beasts and plants. There Is a
point at Spitzbergen where no sea fish ever
| goes. 1t ls one and hall square mIits wide
and the color s a beau tliul green Now What
do you think makes just that small place
| green, while the rest of the water around is
blAe? Because it s inhabited by multltudes
! of little animals, 30 numerous that eighty
thousand men would not be able to number
them ii they began at the creation Of the
world and kept on to the present time For
| they occupy place fourteen hundred feet deep
and she number OF these infuSoriG, or little
animals, which The eye can not see without !.
| glass, Is one hundred and ten thousand five
| hundred and ninety-two TO cubic foot
| In another part OF the sea there Is large
space which is REQ, and that color is caused by
Innumerabie little plants. The sea at Uiloa
or the Peruvian coast, IS a chocolate color
which is caused by being inhabited by innu-
merable little animals of that color. And the
sea on the coast of California is a purple hue
from the same cause.
1t Is remarkable that these animals called
srfusorra are of great service IN the currents
OF the sea, and that they 90 from the pole to
the equator, and from one lole to the other
For 1t is upon them that many fsh feed, ana
by them their life is supported
The sea has not only it's ountains, its
fountains, and streams, its high cliffs, and low
abysees, but also its ancient forests with their
lovely flower gardens, and extended prairies :;
1t has Its Ia dscapes, that more splendid
and fairy-lke than any that are to be seen Oh
the earth. Let Us take the sea fir for exam
pie. lt grows IN such beautiful form, anc
Its color Is SO lovely, that those no have seen
1t growing out under the water say that it
surpasses their powers of description. Tie
hr garcens at The bottom of the stretch
over the pIalries of the sea, and climb up the
mountain sides They are covered over with
| the beautiful gold-colored coral moss Its
| leaves wave to and fro with the currents OF
the water, and the long branches are agitate,i
sometimes with the great storms that pervade
the bottom we'll as the surface of the sea
The largest forest in the world is In the sea
of Saragossa, between the Azores and the
Antilles, and Is SIX times larger than Ger
many go that Columbus needed fourteen days
to sail over it.
But L must tell you something about the
coral gardens at the bottom of the sea- The
corsls are the most beautiful flowers of the
ocean, and if the beautiful lamps of Paris
could only shine upon them how lovely they
would appear in Il II our eyes
|
and they do what no beautiful plants en-
dry land can accomplish. They can go from
place to pace and grow, and be eautiful all
the time. These queer poypi are little crea-
lures, but they are great architects. They
build high stone mountains and magnificent
castles in their coral reefs and coral islands,
which, after lapse of centuries, afford a well
| come home to man and on which the cocoa
| tree, and the palm, and the orange grow
| How long it takes man to build an embank-
ment against the encroaching sea . Wha. a
continual expenditure of steam and machine
ry But the inventive little animals of the
sea are continually at work against the en-
croaching waves, and it requires many, many
| centuries for them to build up their embank-
ment. But they finally succeed. Such is
| the power of little animal When their
work is done, all the people in the world
could not push one of their coral embank-
ments away from it's base. Now, can you
tell me what are these powerful polypl-these
little architects of the sea They are very
small animals, not larger than the end of a
| knlttine-needle. The most of them live in
their own homes, where every polypus has
his own little cell. But th ere are halls run
| ming through their homes, 80 that the year
all meet together whenever they please and
when one enjoys any thing that is very nice
kho rost aharo