238 A SAD STOBT. 



""What do you mean?" interrupted the nail-brush, which was 

 new, and very ignorant. "You, an animal? I don't believe it. If 

 you I- back were bone, and your hair, pig-bristles, like mine, you 

 might at least call yourself an animal product; but you have no 

 back that I can see, nor hair either." 



" You are extremely rude," said the sponge. " But you know no 

 better, and ignorance should always be pitied rather than blamed. 

 I was an animal, my young friend, though now, alas ! I am only the 

 skeleton of one. 



"I lived, as I said, a very happy life on my rocky ledge. I 

 never moved froin it. I had no occasion to do so, even if I had 

 been provided with legs, as many animals are. I never had any 

 fancy for a I'oving life. To draw in the warm, delicious water 

 through the thousand small holes and canals of my frame, and spout 

 it out again through my large holes, was my chief occupation, and 

 one of which I was never weary. The water was full of tiny 

 creatures of all kinds, and these formed my food, and gave me 

 always plenty to eat. In the sjiring I was always busy with my 

 maternal duties. I brought out hundreds of lovely, little, round 

 eggs, yellow and white, — the prettiest eggs you ever saw. In a 

 short time they put out tiny feelers, a sort of fringe of waving lashes, 

 like those things on the nurse's eyes; as soon as they appeared I 

 knew my bal>ies were ready to come out; and, sure enough, they 

 soon broke through the egg-covering, and, waving their lashes, 

 swam out into the sea. 



"At first they stayed near me, delighting my heart with their pretty 

 tricks ; but very soon they felt the need of homes of their own, and 

 went off to fix themselves on rocks, or coral-trees, and become, in 

 their turn, full-grown sponges, like myself. I could not complain, 

 for I had left my own mother in the same way. I never saw any of 

 them again, except one dear child, who made his home on the shell 

 of a large crab. He grew finely, and became a noble sponge; but 

 the crab never seemed to mind him in the least, and carried him 

 about with him wherever he went. In this way he often passed near 

 my ledge, and as the crab was a friendly and sensible fellow we 

 often had' a pleasant chat together. 



