The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-05-06
A CHAPTER OF WONDERS.

Little people have been delighted wit
- fairy stories ever since fairies were though
of, but can tell you something far NOR
wonderful than your fairy stories, an,
true, besides, which makes it more in
teresting.
II you think small people two or tire
inches high are amusing, what would yol
think of little creature so small as barrel,
to be seen BY the naked eye SO small, in
deed, that he and thousands of others hav
plenty of room to live, and grow ant
travel around in tiny puddle Of water
And what sort of house would yot
think such an atom of a thing coulc
build 2 What il | should tell you that ht
can build brick house: that he selects
from the water in which he lives the neces.
sary materials, shapes them in mould
which he has in his body, and piles up Q
regular house for HIMSELF You can hard.
ly believe it, but it is perfectly true.
What do you think of creatures SO tiny
that whole family can live in the cavi-
ties in grain of sand? To your eye, a
grain of sand looks perfectly round but
bhVoO oOto VI CiCdtutCo Huu COlHiOItdDlt
caves to live in. How do you suppose
they like to be mixed up with water and
other things, aud walled up in stone
wall It's as bad to them as to be shut
up in an enchanted palace, and worse, for
no disseminating words will let them out.
The world of wonders opened to us by
the microscope is stranger than all the
tales of giants, genii, and enchantment
you ever heard. Think-if you can-of
atoms so small that whole colonies can
live in one drop of water, and swim
around as freely as whales in the ocean !;
and that it would take many millions OF
them together to be as large as the head of
a pin. Imagine these specks of life swim
ming around in the water, chasing other
creatures smaller than themselves for food.
They're almost too small to think Of You
would never think of looking for beauty
in these little creatures, but they are most
exquisitely formed and colored Many,
not SO large as the head of pin, are as
perfect aud beautiful as flower, aud Just
as nicely adapted to their life in every
particular as human being is to his.
Many creatures in the sea look SO much
inv loWCto tndt III Olutti bllbtS lIley were
supposed to be flowers but, studied by
the help of the microscope, they are seen
to be animals, though as beautiful in color
and shape as the loveliest flowers that
grow. One kind is called the sea-lily, and
there are anemones, daisies and other flow
err names. But each one is hungry little
animal, waving around in the water, not
to look pretty, but to catch something to
eat to stuff into the eager mouths they al
ways have
How do you suppose the sponge you
have to use with your slate at school spent
his time when he was alive, before he was
torn from his home for your use? Do
you see those little, very little hills on
him, each one of which has hole in it?
Well, he spent his time in drawing in the
water through the tiny holes all over him,
and after he had snatched all that was
good to eat, squirting it out again through
these little volcanoes. Why, he made
regular fountain down there at the bottom
of the sea. l wouldn't be surprised if
your father wears some pieces of sponge
for shirt-studs and sleeve-buttons. You
ask him If be wears the fashionable s'moss
agates," and if he does, you just tell him
it is nothing but flint, with pieces of
sponge turned to stone in it.
If you've ever been to the mountains
and | hope you have--you remember see
ing piles and piles of immense rocks
Many of these rocks are made entirely of
the shells of some of these sea- atoms, each
one no larger round than one of you hairs,
but as beautiful as the large sea shells you
have seen so carefully preserved.
These curiosities of the sea take the
most wonderful shapes you ever thought
of. Some families look like basket of
flowers, as large as a peach basket. Every
stem of the basket is house, in the shape
of long tube, and the flowers are only
the lovely little animals heads stuck out of
their houses. Another kind is called the
feather star, and looks exactly like a star
made of lovely rose-colored plumes.--
Nothing can be more beautiful than this
little star waving around in the water.
Then there's the sea-moss. To the eye it
seems mere film OF moss on some old
stone; but under the microscope, it turns
out to be perfect forest of little trees of
various colors, and the trees are made of
live creatures, throwing their arms around
for food.
Do you wonder what all these mites
were made for? You may be sure that
each one has bis use, however humble. =
The wise men have decided that these
creatures are scavengers. They eat de-
caying animal and vegetable matter that
would be very hurtful if not disposed OF.
These scayengers are food for larger atoms,
and those, in turn, are food for fishes, and
fishes are food for men. Nothing is lost.
But don't think the wonders are all in
the sea. Take the eggs of moths aud but
terfies-tiny things, not SO big as the head
Of pin. Why birds eggs can't compare
with them for beauty In color especially
they are exquisitely changeable. One egg
is covered with hexagonal figures hexa-
gonal you know is six sided--and at each
corner is tiny raised button. 1t is a
beautiful blue and white. changeable. -
Another egg looks like ripe orange; an
other like beautiful round she'll; some
are oval, with perfectly regular figures all
over Others transparent, like glass, SO the
little curled-up worm can be seen inside.
Some have acknowledgements covers, with
hinges, so that the tiny creature has only
to open his door to get out.
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