The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1875-07-15
insects ~ Builder.


On shelf in my room stands al
empty hose. 1t has no cards in the
window announcing that it is fol
rent. In fact it has no window, ane
the door stands open from morning tt
night, inviting any pssser-by to &c
in. 1t is built of bricks, and was
made by the former owner for his
own use. He lived in it all his life,
and it was an elegant residence in
those days, for he took the nices,
care of it, and kept it clean and
bright, though now it looks rather
dusty and neglected.
1t is not large house-not more
than an inch long, from front to back
door, and only little wider than the
end Of a lead pencil. 1t is rather an
unusual shape, too, something like
bit Of the pencil, with the front end
all open for . door, and the back end
closed, excepting small opening for
back door.
l said it was built Of bricks, and so
it is, but they're very small, Of course,
no larger than fine grains of sand.
And it is more beautiful than any
house you ever saw, for the tiny
bricks are Of different colors. and are
varied by minute bits of shell, the
whole making an elegant mosaic work,
SO fine and exquisite that we need
the aid Of q microscope to see it.
The mosaic work you have seen on
ladies' jewelry is coarse and rough
compared with it. 1t is rs delicate
and frail as it is pretty, for the wall
is not much thicker than paper.
This most wonderful house was
built at the bottom Of the sea, for his
own use, by creature even more
marvellous and beautiful than his res
idence. A little fellow he was, too,
as you may guess, if he found plenty
Of room to live in house the size of
lead pencil.
If you had found this domicile
when the owner was at home, you
would not have seen the door left
open in this careless way. He was
modest and retiring parsonage, who
usually kept his home tightly closed
and rarely showed his head outside.
His door was white and shaped much
like cork. 1t fitted the end Of his
tube-shaped house, and he could
move it up and down or push it en-
tirely out when he had a fancy to
look out. The cork-shaped door was
in fact the little fellows head. and on
the top Of it he wore one Of the most
elegant ornaments you can imagine.
1t was nothing less than a pair of
wonderful combs, each shaped exact
ly like lady's back comb, and of the
most brilliant gold color. The teeth
of the combs curved in as ours are
made, and one might easily suppose
they were copies of those to be found
in our shops. They had not only the
color of gold, but they had its luster,
and reflected the light as brilliantly
as the most highly polished metal.
Though they looked SO much like
ladies' combs, however, they had
very different use during the life Of
the owner. Perhaps you'll be dis
gus,ed to hear that he used them as
shovels, for he was as fond of digging
in sand as any of Won youngsters.
III tell you how he managed it.
You must know thar, although he
had private sandstone residence, he
was so fond of solitude that he pre-
ferred to dig hole in the sand on
the bottom of the ocean and bury
himself-house and sll--out OF sight.
Now, the first thing TO do, when one
of these little fellows takes fancy to
retire to private life, is to get his
golden combs-or shovels, l suppose
we ought TO call them-in the right
position for use, for although they
stand up on top Of his head edge to
edge, there's only one way to use
them. If he is not on the right side
he turns himself in his house till he
brings his shovels to the proper posi-
ton, when he pushes them out, and
thrusts them into the sand. Then
lifting them up, he brings ont load
Of sand, which he throws over his
head on to the edge of his house.
Again he plunges them into the sand
and throws out another load, and SO
he goes on till the hole is large
enough to suit him.
The next puzzle to you would be,
how he could get in, but it is no puz-
zle to him. He merely hangs his
droll little body out of the door till
its weight tips the whole house over
the edge of the hole. Then he goes
on with his digging, going deeper,
and deeper, and making his house
stand straighter and s,raighter, till it
is entirely covered with sand.
Another curious thing about him
is the way he eats. He can't eat
fish, you know-they're too big, nor
does he care for sea-mud, but he
grows fat on tiny bits of atoms in the
sea water, which are too small for us
to see at all. All he has to do then
is to keep a current of water running
into his mouth. From this he takes
his food, and the air he needs to
breathe, and the water runs out
again.
This getting into cave is all the
travelling the odd little fellow does;
for he's contented creature, and any
nice quiet spot under the sea, where
there's plenty of sand is good enough
for him.
But must tell you about the body
Of this interesting little worm, for he
is worm, and belongs to the family
of tube builders. Back of his droll,
cork-shaped head he has pair of
scarlet gills, shaped like those on
fishes. When he feels well, and
sticks his head out of his house, he
keeps those pretty gills in lively mo-
ton, futtering back and forth, like a
pair Of fans. And that is not all.
Down each side Of his little soft body
he has row Of knobs which look
like warts as much as anything, tif-
teen on side. When studied