A SEA FAN AND A SEA PARABLE. Toe 
dered a power came upon us to build. We 
gave ourselves; we could do no more. The 
vision is ever before us. We would that we 
could better accomplish the work that was 
given us to do.” 
A wave circled among the branches of coral 
and whispered to the little polypi: “I come 
from laving a beautiful island where palm trees 
grow and homes of mankind are clustering. It 
was you, little ‘reef builders,’ who laid the 
foundations of that island. Ye builded better 
than ye knew.” And the wave with the sil- 
very crest sped on. 
Upon the sand crawled a crab—he with the 
“compound faceted eyes”! He of the race of 
armored knights! But, alas! by generations 
of indulgence and selfishness, lost was half his 
coat-of-mail—which had been a family heir- 
loom—two of his sets of claws, made strong 
for service, had become enfeebled by disuse or 
wholly followed the lost armor. He crawled 
in terror upon the sand, seeking safety from 
his legion of enemies. Spying the shell of an 
industrious mollusk, he hastily devoured the 
helpless creature and backed crabbedly into 
its empty shell. The crab had become the 
half-naked vagabond tramp of the seashore! 
A wave broke upon the sand. It gave the 
