The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-09-17

tyssts, or beard.
have shown you how they are spun
and of what they are made, and / am
sure you will confess that it is very
wonderful; but when | tell you that
these humble little spinners have come
to the aid OF man, and have preserved
and strengthened the work of some of
the greatest engineers the world ever
produced, and have done for them that
which all their skill and patience had
failed to do, you will find it hard to be-
lieve. l know. And yet it is true, as /
will show You.
There is town in Devonshire, Eng
land, called Bideford. and near the
town, which is not far from the sea,
two rivers join-the Torridge and Taw.
There is is a great bridge Just there,
twenty-four arches in length, and it
cost thousands upon thousands of dol
lars, and years of labor of many men,
to build it. But after it was finished
the surveyor saw that it would not last.
The tide was so rapid and strong that
it kept washing out the mortar from
the arches, and sweeping away the
heavy stones; and, work as hard as
they could, the bridge could not be
kept in order. or so as to be safe to
travel over.
At last a wise engineer, who had not
thought even the lowliest of Gods crea-
lures too lowly for him to watch and
study, said he felt sure he could save
the bridge from being swept away. So
he took men and boats and brought
hundreds of thousands of musSels-yes,
insignificant little mussels--and placed
them among the stones of the arches.
| The result proved the wisdom of the
man who had watched their industry.
They went to work and spun their
threads all over the stones, and bound
them together so firmly that the tide
and waves had no more power to wash
them away.
To this day the town of Bideford
keeps men and boats at work to replace
the little spinners as they die. or are
torn away by heavy freshets and so
valuable does it deem these humble
guardians of the bridge that it has
passed law by which any person who
tears loose the mussels from the arches
shall be sported-which, as YOU
know, is terrible punishment.
1t isnot only at Biddeford, either, thai
mankind in the same way, for in France
the Cherbourg Breakwater is made Sc
cure by the strong threads spun over
them by the tons upon tons of mussels
that wise Government caused to be
placed among them.
You can Judge something of the man.
ner in which these threads hold by put
ting a mussel in an aquarium. Very
soon you will find it fast anchored to
the sides of the glass or stones, and
then you will have to break the strong
threads, as the only way of loosening
the spinner from his hold.
There is kind of mussel in the
Mediterranean Sea which manufactures
silky thread in such large quantities
that the people of Sicily used to make
it into gloves and stockings, which
brought extremely high pgices, not
only because of their beauty, but ON
account of their strange origin. So
highly were they valued, in fact, that.
in the year 1854, Pope Benedict the
Fifteenth was presented with pair of
stockings made of the silk threads spun
by these humble worlmen of the sea,
and the gift was thought one worthy
VI ohO OAolIcu SbdOlOu Vi Tile reCOlNer.
But, in their actual toll, or handi-
work, as it were, our little spinners
have not exhausted all their usefulness.
In the cool winter weather (but not in
the warmer months) the sea-mussels
form wholesome, palatable food, and
in some places they are brought from
the parts of the coast and placed
where they fatten more rapidly-at the
mouths OF rivers emptying into the sea
so that the cities near by may be sup
piled with an abundance of fine, fresh
mussels.
There is yet another manufacture in
which the humble mussel eXcels. which,
If OF less real utility, is far more beautiful
than the threads they spin.
Even as far back as the times of the
ancient Romans, the rivers of Britain
were famous for the beautiful pearls
found in the mussels that dwelt in
them, and we are told that the desire
to possess these gems was one of the
chief motives of Caesars expedition to
Britain.
Along the River Earn, branch of
the Tay, the gathering OF pearl-mussels
is great industry, and many are the
families who are supported by their
sale.
Among the great jewels of the Brit
ish crown is a magnificent pearl. which
was manufactured by q mussel in the
River Conway, during the reign of King
Charles the Second.
Then, too, though the outer side, or
epidermis of the mussel is brown and
homely, if it is stripped off, it is found
to be so beautiful in its tints as to be
used for mother-of pearl, and valuable
ornaments are made of it.
Is it not wonderful how much there
is to tell, even about poor little mus
sci, that we carelessly tear loose from
its home and cut up for fish-bait, or
trample beneath our feet?
And is it not strange how often we
see things with our eyes, and yet do
not see them at all with our under
standings? ...
There is so much to learn in this
marvellous world OF ours, that we hard
ly know where to begin to study it ALL
Iexpect you thought you knew all
about the little brown mussel. but did
youp-HeIen HGrcourt. IN Golden Days.
A Maine Miracle.