The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1877-02-01
THE YOUNG FOLKS.
Try 10 Again.

Try 10 Again.
Come hear what the bird on the hickory sings,
Whose nest was blown oa but fortnight ago;
And new one sits perched on the branches
below.
Come hear what she sings to the heart of the DOOR
Whose temples have fallen In wind AMI in rain;
Come hear how she sings new song that is sure,
To the glorious old carol Of Try Again
What has been badly done can not perish too soon
What has been rightly dene will not perish at all,
One work towers at eve, and one totters at noon,
And we know not their worth till they triumph
know 1t is hard to be toiling so long,
m know II Is painful TO struggle In vain,
To be broken by sorrow and baffied by wrong,
But the duty OF life is to 1ryH Again!
Not hand on earth but has labor and task,
Not heart earth but has duty TO do,
Success let merit whenever we ask,
And fear not but God will he tender and true
And still when we falter aud fall In the race,
Or the wreck OF our hopes scatters the plain,
Remember to look with plying face
On the work Of your BROTHER and Iry 4gaini
A LITTLE ABOUT SPoNGEs.-If my
young readers are among those who love
to hear of and read about the wonderful
works of God, | am sure they will be
glad to sit down for q short time and
listen while l tell them little about the
beautiful thing called sponge. 1t is one
of the most wonderful and useful things
that the mighty God has made. he has
placed it in the deep seas, where it lives
and grows. Men dive down beneath the
waters to gather it, and they bring it up
to the light, so that they may make it
fit for use.
Well, my young friends, the sponge |
am going to talk to you about is 80 called
because il absorbs moisture and becomes
soft, though before it was hard and dry.
1t also becomes plant, and admits OF
being squeezed You know that the
nice, soft thing that you use to wash
your faces with is called sponge. You
must very often, / am quite sure, have
looked at this beautiful thing, and won
dered very much where it came from
whether out of the earth or from the
bottom of the sea, or whether was made
by men.
know when was little boy used
to wonder about it. l was very glad
when my father gave me birthday
present of book, telling about some of
the beautiful and wonderful things that
grow in the ocean. He told me that l
could read in it that sponges came out
of the seas, and 80 / got to know little
about them.
When / grew up to be man ! sailed
away upon the ocean, and there l saw
with my eyes what before l could only
hear of with my ears and read about.
/ saw that there were great many
kinds of spOnges; some very large and
fine, and some very coarse as well as
large.
found, as well, that they grew in all
seas and waters-fresh as well as salt
but that the best sort came out of the
tropical seas, the Grecian Archipelago
and the Mediterranean Sea. Then, again
/ observed that different people had diff.
ferent ways of gathering the sponges
Some men dived for them, some fished
for them, and others used poles and slid
down under the water for them.
The Greek nation and Syrians carry
on the largest trade in sponge-fishing
though the trade in their waters is open
to all nations alike.
The MORGAN Greeks are some of the
people who collect their sponges by fish.
ing for them. They use long, torked
poles, usually with three prongs, which
they push under the waters, and with
them seize the sponges, tearing them of
the hard substances to which they cling
Great quantities are gathered In thi
way, but they do not realize q larg,
price, because thus gathered they becom,
injured. being torn by these three
pronged poles.
The Greeks of Kalminos and Psora ar,
the most renowned fishers. They div,
down under the waters as far as twenty
five fathoms, and gather the sponge
- tI,a,. han L., A 10
to the boat; at the end of it three
cornered fat piece of stone is attache d
with hole drilled through one corner
through this the rope is passed ant
secured. When the diver prepares to g
down he takes this in his hand, which
in some way or another, guides him t
the places where the best pieces of spong
are to be found, usually sticking to som
hard substance, such as heads of rock
and pieces Of coral.
A case had been mentioned by a re
liable authority of sponge being foun'
sticking to the head of a crab. So lon
as these sponges can find something har'
to adhere to, they thrive and grow
which they cannot do if they float about
When the diver finds them, he tear
them off with his hands and tucks then
under his arms When loaded, he shake
the rope, and the men in the boat hau
him up with his booty. Thus gathered
they are very valuable, as they sustain
no injury.
When they are exposed to stormy seas
they grow to very large size. Roug
and stormy seas seem to agree wit
them, you see. When the divers brin
them up out of the sea they are all slim
and full of vegetable matter. They the
bury them in the sands, and after fe'
days dig them up, wash them and leay
them to dry.
The Greeks are Drawer than the Syr
ans in diving, and they can renal
q longer under the water. A great man
men are employed by the sponge trader
from four thousand TO five thOusan
men form the crews of about six hundre
boats.
The deeper down in the tropical sea
the sponges are found the finer an
better they are. Some divers can g
down as far as twenty-five fathoms unde
the sea to get fine specimens. This is
long way down, indeed.
The Syrians collect an immense quar-
tity of kind called Venetian, whic
they sell by weight; they are grea
deal cheaper than the fine Turkey sponge
but the cheapness of them is balance
by the large quantities gathered, as we
as by the facility in procuring then
An enormous trade is carried on by tn
Turks, as well as by the Grecians an
Syrians; and Turkish sponges are great
valued, and are very expensive to buy
The Grecians and SyIians carry thei
sponge-fshiDg to all shores, as they me
nopolize most of the trade. The Baham
and West Indian Islands supply large
and coarser kind of sponges, and thes
enterprising men 90 there and collec
them.
In Mexico sponges grow in shallo,
waters, and are, of course, inferior in qua
ity. They are gathered by pole bein
fixed firmly in the bed of the sea, abou
n n Futl