350 LITTLE FOLKS 
ful as a flower, and just as nicely adapted to their life, in every 
particular, as a human being is to his. 
Many creatures in the sea look so much like flowers that in 
olden times they were supposed to be flowers ; but, studied by the 
help of the microscope, they are seen to be animals, though as 
beautiful in color and shape as the loveliest flowers that grow. 
But each one is a hungry little animal, waving around in the water, 
not to look pretty, but to catch something to stuff into the eager 
mouths they always have. 
How do you suppose the sponge you have to use with your 
slate at school, spent his time when he was alive, before he was 
torn from his home for your use ? Do you see those little, very 
little hills on him, each one of which has a hole in it ? Well, he 
spent his time in drawing in the water through the other tiny holes 
all over him, and after he had snatched all that was good to eat, 
spirting it out again through these little volcanoes. Why, he made 
a regular fountain down there at the bottom of the sea. I wouldn't 
be surprised if your father wears some pieces of sponge for shirt- 
studs and sleeve-buttons. You ask him if he wears the fashionable 
" moss agates," and if he does, you just tell him it is nothing but 
flint, with pieces of sponge turned to stone in it. 
If you've ever been to the mountains — and I hope you have — 
you remember seeing piles and piles of immense rocks. Many of 
these rocks are made entirely of the shells of some of these sea- 
atoms, each one no larger round than one of your hairs, but as beau- 
tiful as the large sea-shells you have seen so carefully preserved. 
These curiosities of the sea take the most wonderful shapes 
you ever thought of. Some families look like a basket of flowers, 
as large as a peach-basket. Every stem of the basket is a house, 
in the shape of a long tube, and the flowers are only the lovely little 
animals' heads stuck out of their houses. Another kind is called 
the feather star, and looks exactly like a star made of lovely rose- 
colored plumes. Nothing can be more beautiful than this little 
star waving around in the water. Then there's the sea moss. To 
the eye it seems a mere film of moss on some old stone ; but under 
the microscope, it turns out to be a perfect forest of little trees of 
various colors, and the trees are made of live creatures, throwing 
their arms around for food. 
Do you wonder what all these mites were made for ? You 
may be sure that each one has his use, however humble. The wise 
