MINOR MUD AND WATER FOLK. 117 



" Do you really think they 're alive ? " said 

 the same person to me, when I met him on the 

 hill one day and offered him my jar for inspec- 

 tion. 



I had been making a call on the Mud Folk. 

 There are a good many of them beside this 

 brook. They are not wont to receive my calls 

 with enthusiasm, neither do they press me to 

 come again. But I dig into their habitations 

 without ceremony. The question of my neighbor 

 referred to a long hair-worm, Gordius, that I 

 had taken from his mansion in the mud and was 

 conveying home. 



On my affirming my certain belief in the life 

 of the creatures, the lad said, " But folks say 

 they 're horse-hairs. I used to see lots of them. 

 They're not all black; some are red. I used to 

 think it was because they were different colored 

 hairs. Did you ever try putting horse-hairs in 

 water and letting them come alive ? I used to 

 do it when I was a little fellow, but I never made 

 much of a success at it." 



I should think not ! Poor Gordius aquations. 

 Will human beings never become tired of repeat- 

 ing that old story of the horse-hair ? 



In an evil hour I resolved to experiment on 

 that Gordius. I was moved thereto by reading 

 a statement in some book that certain hair-worms 

 can be dried into brittle threads and yet will be- 

 come active on being moistened. 



