The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-07-24
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Nl0 day, late iii winter, when
the woods wero just begin
ming to think about spring, the
muscles In one particular egg
10
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81 a...,. ~ the backbone Strengthened with
q a great effort, the shell was ripped open,
d and the tail OF q brand new brook trout
n dhrus itself out into the wa ter and wig
Eglcd pnthetlcally. l5s iSsI a4 III 33a55
NJ TIL q most gorOus squirnla he backed
3gclcar OF the shell in Which he had lain
N . for so many weeks and months and
weak and weary from his evertions, la
n down on a stone. 7Es FL $g5i
A 5 IIe had to liz on his side. for attach-5
a cd to his breast was a large, round
transparent sac hich looked very nnu CHI I
y like the egg out OF which he had jus {
II come u n fact it really was the egg or
4 at least q portion of it. for held a l,lrge8
It part al what had been the Xolk. + you
& could have examined him with a micros-S
& cope you would have seen u most strange
and beautiful thing. His little body
fNHas so delicate and transparent that&one8
VI could see the arteries; pulsing and throb-E
{ ding in time with the beating OF his heart,
and & some. OF those arteries found their
way into the food sac. wiero they kept
a branching aud dividing and growing
u smaller and more numerous. And the
very. smallest nf stny5tubes u wonder
II fnl process was going on AS wonderful
IL n, the wa iii which the oxygen fed the
embryos through@tlle shell Somehow, by
slife's marvellous alchemy the blood W;is
&laYfnEE hold Of the material OF the Eolk,8
turning it into more, blood, and carrying
at away to hesllsed in building up bone
Y and muscle everywhere, from the tip of
y his nose to the end of his tall. &3 ~
with a full haversa elk to he drawn upon
I'm such SAYconVcnient manner the troutlet
was lot Obliged 10 take food through his \
II mouth or TO think about hustling around
u IN n search ~ Of q living This was very
4 fortuna te,5 for the stream was full of hun-
beasts Of prey who n would bel very
likely to gobble him Up quick the first
time he Went abroad and, beside his frail
little body WIS still so weak and delicate
Il that he could not bear tho light of day
So. instead of swimming away to seek
q lis fortune he$snplyydived down deeper
II into the gravel, and stayed there.
81 He stayed in the gravel nearly u MONTH,
but his yolk sac was gradually shrinking. I
II and after a time it drew itself up into a
a little cleft iii his bflast and almost dis
$appen1cd. There. .tyaf.-A nothing left 1t 4
n but AZ lie gainber-colorcd bead, and 1T
X could no longer supply food enough for
II Ills growing body. There were times
/ when he 1clt decidedly hungry. And
y other changes had come while he lay ana
4 waited in the gravel The embryonic fiji
(which had made Ills tail so like a pad
die was gone, the true sdorsal and caudal5
4 and H anal fins had taken their proper
& sb ape, and he looked a little less like a
" tad pole and a little more like a fish. He
4 WAS stronger than}he had ybeenat first and
3slie was losing his dread Of the sunlight,
and SO at last he left the gravel bed,
TO seek his Tlghtful place In the world
8pf moving, &mnrinuring waters.
lSsi& r doubt II more than one fish out Of
4 each Thousand eggs ever lived to grow up.
Il 1t is not difficult to guess where they
went. Our trout had hardly emerged
8 from his hiding place in the gravc when
I o. queer, ugly, big headed little fish dariedi
Eat him from under q stone, with his jaws
open and an awful cavity yawning behind
3tdhen. The troutlet lodged between
couple OF pebbles and escaped. but anoth-5
cr youngster Just beyond him was caught
and swallowed alive, That was his first A
"a meeting with the star-saZer who nl.ls
A more babies than ever Herod did. Then,
n there We're minnoWs and behring's and
ii lizards and frogs and Weasles ard water
IA snakes and other butchers of all sorts
4 and sizes too numerous 10 mentpn And
perhaps the worst OF all were the Older
trout, who never seemed TO have the
4 least computation about eating their
small relations, and who were so nmble
II and lively thatit was almost impossible
a 10 keep out Of their way. Our friend
y spent most ot5his time in the shallow
v water near The banks, where larger
We're not so likely 10 follow
Z. him, but even there he had many narrow
s8escapes and was Obliged to keep hlmse!t
Il hidden as much as possible under chips
\. and dead leaves. aud behind stones
II ID llTSl Bkeat AeS-5
perience. and gave him some entirely
new ideas Of life. One day he was lying
with his head upstream. as was his usual
bit. when a spartuclarly fat, plump little
larvae. torn from his home BY the re-
q Inorseess fiyer, came drifting down with
D the current. He looked very tempting.
and our friend sailed out from under
Il q stick and caught him on the ny just
a as he had seen The star-gazer catch lbs
4. own brother. The funny little creature
n wiggTed delcionsiy on his tongue, and he
4 held him between his jaws for a moment
* IN kind Of ecstasy; but he couldn't
quite make up his mind 10 swallow him,
q and presently lie spai him out again and
went back To- The shadow OF his sick
,3 10 rest and think about IT, 1t was the
HI first time in his life that he had seyer
II done such a thing, and he felt rather
overwhelmed, hut an hour or two later
ii he tried II again. and this time the living.
4 Inorsel did not stop In Ills mouth. but
went straight on down.
1T was really something more than a