American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1881-09-10
THE SPINNERS OF THE SEA,


THE SPINNERS OF THE SEA.
Little children, have not even the
few years of your young lives taught you
that this beautiful world of ours is full
of wonderful things? Have you not al
ready learned that our loving Father is
wise and thoughtful in all things. and
that He never places even the lowest
all that is needful to its welfare?
The great ocean holds many of these
humble little toilers, and it is the story
of the life work of one of these families
that am going now to tell you.
Have you ever gone into great fac
tory, where men and women are at
work amidst the buzz of machinery,
spinning threads, of which. by-a nd-by,
will be woven the very clothes you and
l wear, These men and women have
to devote long months, or years, to
learn how to do tIA.ir work. and other
men have devoted other years to in
venting the machinery with which these
delicate little threads are spun; and all
the work Is done IN The midst of hurry
and hustle and noise -.-E
1t oil seems very wonderful, the toll
of these human spinners; but what will
YOU say when tell you that. many and
many time, you and L have held in
our hands more wonderful spinner
than these; a spinner SO humble and
quiet that few know of its industry and
skill; a. spinner who has again and
again come to the aid of man, when,
but for its help. all his toll of months
and years must have been lost and
swept away?
Perhaps you will hardly believe it
when tell you 7that the homely little
mussel, that we use to bait our fish
hooks with. is this very spinner of the
sea. Not the fresh water mussel, but
"that which dwells by the sea-" in the
creyices of the rocks, and gives US so
much trouble to tear it loose from its
rocky bed.
When the tiny mussef first creeps out
of the little egg which held it, it floats
about in the water at the mercy of the
wind and the waves; but very soon,l as
it grows larger. and the time comes Tor
it TO settle down for life, Dame Nature
the faithful servant of the great Gre
ator-furnishes the. humble mussel with
the means of moving about at will, so
that it may select its home. roe.
Take up one of them in your hand
and open it carefully with a knife, and
ical shape and deeply grooved in APP
and it is by this it drags itself along in
its early DAYS while hunting for a rock
or bank which it may suit its fancy to
choose for its future home.
This =" foot" is just like that. of the
snails we all know so well, and if you
will watch a snail moving along ON the
ground you will know exactly how the
"Spinners of the. Sea- land. in fact,
all of the mollusk family-travel be-
meath the water.
The mussel does not love a solitary
life. On the contrary. when we find
one we find thousands-aye, and hun
dreds of thousands-a fast-bound,
by their own work, to their rocky
homes. 4a.t t.f..
just as soon as the young mussel.
looking out for a home, finds place to
suit it, it puts its foot firmly in the rock,
and at once begins the work of its life
spinning threads, SO that it may not De
swept away from its new home.
If you look once more at the open
ing down from the base OF the foot a
bundle of stout threads, which the foot
has spun out of semi-fuid material
that is secreted in gland in its inte-
rior. And thus the spinner of the sea
not only spins his own thread, but ac-
tually manufactures the material of
which he makes it.
AS we have said. the young mussel
begins this work as soon as it settles on
a place in which to pass the rest of its
days. The moment the foot touches
the rock, it projects beyond the shell
and then draws back, leaving fast to
the rock a delicate thread, which at |
first is very tender, but almost instantly |
hardens and strengthens. Then the !
foot is pushed out again and again
and there is another thread;
and so the musser continues to spin its |
thread, until very often it is tied so
firmly to the rock, or stone, or larger |
shell on which it lies, that the mass of |
threads is dozen times as large as the
mussel it incloses.
Once, far away on the shore of one of |
the beautiful islands in the Bay of Pan
anna, T.. who write you of these busy
little spinners of the sea, found one of
them had spun such a mass of threads |
over its little shell that it looked like q |
huge sponge; and after working with |
chisel and hammer for five minutes, to |
loosen the threads that tied it to its
home, / took pity on the industrious
little worker, and left it to bask in the
and the waves it loved so
we'll.
These threads that hang down from
The mussel, when lifted, are termed its
yssus, or beard.
l have shown you how they are spun
md OF what they are made, and l am
,ure you will confess that it is very
wonderful; but when | tell you that
,hese humble little spinners have come
20 the aid of man, and have preserved
md strengthened the work of some of
he greatest engineers the world ever
and have done for them that
which all their skill and patience had
allied to do, you will find it hard to be-
ieve. l know. And yet it is true. as
will show you.
There is a town in Devonshire, Eng
and, called Bideford. and near the
own. which is not far from the sea,
,wo rivers join-the Torridge and Taw.
There is is great bridge just there,
arches in length. and it
cost thousands upon thousands of dol f
airs, and years OF labor of many men,
% build it. But after it was finished
he surveyor saw that it would not last
The tide was SO rapid and strong that
t kept washing out the mortar from
he arches, and sweeping away the
heavy stones; and, work as hard as
hey could. the bridge could not be
1ept in order. or SO as to be safe to
ravel over.
At last a wise engineer, who had not
hought even the lowliest of God crea-
lures too lowly for him to watch and