240 A SAD STORY. 



never been seen under the sea. It had four long arms, something 

 like those of a cuttle-fish, only much less graceful, and divided at 

 the end- int« -fiv-e claws, or feelers. (I have since learned that two 

 of the,se arms are called legs, and that the feelers are fingers and 

 toes.) It had gleaming eyes, and in one claw it held something 

 bright and shining. Ah! it makes me cold to thin t of it. To my 

 hori'or the monster fixed his shining eyes on me, and swam 

 directly towards my ledge. The crab scuttled otf with my son on 

 his back, and I was left alone and helpless. I saw one of the long 

 arms extended; the five feelers clutched me in their grasp. I shrank 

 down, and clung with all my might to the rock; but in vain. The 

 shining thing in the monster's other claw was slipped under me. It 

 cut my delicate fibres; I felt them give way one by one; and at 

 last, with one terrible cut and a violent wrench, I was torn from 

 my peaceful home; torn from it, alas! forever! 



"I was thrown into a bag full of other sponges, which the mon- 

 ster had shmg about his middle ; and then he pursued his path of 

 destruction. I will pass briefly over the dark days that followed 

 the drying in the sun, till all the life was dried out of me ; the fear- 

 ful squeezing, with thousands of other wretches like myself, into 

 wooden cases; the voyage over seas; finally, the exposure of my 

 bleached and miserable skeleton in the window of a druggist's shop. 

 All these things are too painful to be dwelt upon; and, as you 

 know, I am now resigned to my lot. I find in you a sympathizing 

 friend. I have water given me (though of very inferior quality) 

 morning and night, and, were it not for the soap and the squeezing, 

 I should make no complaint. But often, as I hang idly in my wire 

 basket, my thoughts go back to my own dear home under the 

 Syrian shores; and I long for a draught of the warm, delicious 

 water, for the cool retirement of my rocky ledge, and for the sight 

 of my dear son, .riding gracefully about on the back of his crab." 



