OUR LITTLE GRAY HELPER 



We have a little gray helper who can- 

 not hear, or make any noise, who can 

 only see sufficiently to distinguish day 

 and night. He wears a little gray coat, 

 and he lives in tiny caves which he bur- 

 rows out for himself. Our little gray 

 friend has no feet; he crawls. He works 

 busily for us all day in the ground under 

 our feet, coming out at night to get his 

 food. He does not take anything which 

 any one wants, but only dead leaves and 

 bits of stems which no one cares about 

 and which we are glad to have out of 

 the way. 



He is the Earthworm or fishing worm 

 as children call it and belongs to the 

 great class of ringed or jointed animals. 

 His body is made of from loo to 200 

 rings. These rings are larger in the mid- 

 dle of body than at either end. Each ring 

 has on it tiny hooks — too small for you to 

 see — which take the place of feet. By 

 the aid of these hooks the worm moves 

 along and digs his way in the ground. 

 Try pulling him out of his den and you 

 will see how fast he can hold. Did you 

 ever see a robin brace his feet and tug 

 with all his might before he gets his 

 worm loose? 



We have five senses — we can hear, 

 see, feel, smell, and taste. The Earth- 

 worm cannot hear or make any noise, 

 that it can see sufficiently to distinguish 

 light from darkness, is shown by the fact 

 that it only comes out for food after 

 dark. It can smell a little — we can try 

 burying an onion near its burrow and it 

 will soon find it. Its chief food is dead 

 leaves and stems. It is very fond of on- 

 ions and cabbages. But its most delicate 

 sense of all is that of touch. Jar the 

 earth a little or blow lightly on it and it 

 will disappear into its burrow. 



He has a system of bloodvessels, a ner- 

 vous system and a brain, and is our only 

 jointed animal that has red blood. When 

 you first find him he is dark colored, be- 

 cause his body is full of the earth which 

 he swallows, but keep him out of the 

 earth for awhile and his skin will get 

 pale and clear and you can see the red 

 blood in two long veins, one down his 

 back and the other along the underside 



of his body. There are tiny holes, like 

 pin pricks, in his body for the air to 

 reach his blood, so as to keep it red and 

 pure. His brain or nerve center is in 

 the back of his head, not far from his 

 mouth. He can crawl both backward 

 and forward. 



Earthworms are most helpful to us. 

 They make long, winding tunnels or 

 streets, some inches below the top soil. 

 These little tunnels are channels for wa- 

 ter, air, and the roots of plants to pene- 

 trate. Mr. Darwin says that the plough 

 is a very old and very valuable invention 

 but long before the plough existed the 

 land was regularly ploughed and contin- 

 ues to be thus ploughed by Earth- 

 worms. By constantly bringing up soil 

 and depositing it on the surface, they in 

 time form a rich black layer of what is 

 called vegetable mould over the original 

 surface. 



When they make their tunnel homes — 

 burrows — they fill their long bodies with 

 the earth, and earring it to the top of the 

 ground deposit it in piles called "worm- 

 casts." These may be seen early in the 

 morning over all the garden paths or 

 just after a rain. The worm's soft 

 body will stretch like india-rubber and 

 will hold a good deal, besides, there are 

 so many worms busy all the time that 

 each year they bring up tons of earth. 

 This shows us the power that is in small, 

 weak things. 



The eggs of the Earthworm may be 

 found by sharp eyes near the openings 

 of the burrows along in June. They are 

 done up in a kind of case, or skin bag, 

 about the size of mustard seeds. It 

 would be interesting to hatch some of 

 the eggs in a glass adding a little moist- 

 ened earth as soon . as they come out. 

 Baby worms are just like the parent 

 worms, only smaller, and have not so 

 many rings. As they grow they get more 

 rings by the dividing of the last one. 



Young worms know how to dig 

 houses, carry out the soil, find food, and 

 plug up the door of their houses for win- 

 ter. They know these things without 

 having to be taught. 



Margaret M. With row. 



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