Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-03-15
SPosGE,

Many girls and boys who have a nice soft
sponge attached TO their slate may not know
the nature of sponge, from what place il is
brought or how obtained. Whether it i.
vegetable substance, az formerly supposed, or
whether il belongs TO the animal kingdom,
as nov believed. We will not discuss
sponges are fund in many places. They
we're once found in great numbers in the Red
Sea and on the coast OF Florida as we'll az that
Of the Bahama Islands. Now the busin4s IS of
sponge gathering is more largely carried on
IN the Greek islands tha- any other place.
sponges are obtained in different ways,-by
diving and graphing. Sponge gathering is a
regular business among the Greeks These
men are very expert, having learned the art
of diving when very Young. divers
.pOnges" are far more valuable than those
grappied or hooked. BY the latter process
they arc usually or often torn hence are not
considered 80 nice, neither are they so sala-
BILE as those carefully cut away from the
rocks and she'll to which they adhere, by the
experienced diver. The incest sponges are
found at the great depth of seventy and often
over one hundred feet from the surface.
When first taken they are # lied with small min
ersl substances. These particles have to be
crushed so fine that they will pass out through
the pores when the sponges are washed.
This is done by beating them with some
heavy article. They are then pressed be-
meath weight sufficient to give them when
dry, the hat shape in which they are slsays
sent to market. The season for sponge
gathering is from June TO October inclusive.
smyrna is considered the greatest market
Tor spon2es. The uses TO which this article
is put are many. Some are SO fbrous that
they can be spun into yarn. Another kind
Is used in making hats. Many articles Of
furniture and even mattresses are stuffed
with sponge. Now perhaps you can tell me
many more things about this useful article,
for there are many more uses to which it is
put than have mentioned. Ii would be
quite impossible to speak of them all in so
short space Diving, whether for sponges
pearls o: corah, or any lost treasure that
may have gone down with some wreck. is
attended by great dangers and those who
follow it as a business are usually short
lived.
Sponges are not all that is found beneath
the surface of the sea. Have you ever
thought about the marine forests that
Forests in the sea, Cousin Bess:" Yes
forests of herbs and clinging MOSES and tall
grasses that bend and sway aud reach out and
upward with the constant motion of the wat
t1s JUST the same as land forests bend their
branches before the strength of the itful
wind. In and about these forests, too, dwell
myra1s of little creatures just the same as
the beautiful birds and bees find shelter
among the branches of the trees. An old
sea captain once said The Indian Ocean
affords perhaps the greatest variety of ma
rine beauty. In the variety of the coral form
atoms the so-caled bottom of the sea is one
perfect dazzle of animal life, wearing all the
colors of the rainbow, The rocks and shells
are adorned with brightest hues, resembling
flowers and twigs and branches and MOSES
all sparkling in splendor and dazzling as the
midday sun"