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Written for IJurkc’s Weekly.
The Little Island Builders.
BY UNCLE JOE.
ft WAY down at the bottom of the deep
blue sea, a tiny insect, so small that my
little readers would hardly see it if it
was laid down before them, fixed itself
to a rock, and commenced building it
self a house. What kind of material it
used to build with I will not now tell you, but when
you are old enough you can learn all about it.—
Day by day, the wonderful “ house not made with
hands” grew and kept on getting larger and high
er. The little workman gave birth to other of its
kind, and as each one became large enough, it
went to work with the others, without waiting to
be told what to do. There was no
quarreling nor idling among them,
for each one knew it’s duty.
The storm-king went abroad “on
the face of the waters,” and the
howling winds lashed old ocean into
fury; the red lightnings of Heaven
glared over the foamy sea, and the
loud thunders rolled, and the tem
pest “laid its hand on the ocean’s
mane,” and the “yeasty waves”
rolled like mountains across the great
deep; the mighty ships were shatter
ed like playthings, and shrieking men
and women went down into their un
known graves, and their bones set
tled about the little army of silent
workers; the huge leviathan rolled
his unwieldy bulk through the wa
ters, and strange-shaped creatures,
with their fishy eyes peered curious
ly at the wonderful house that was
being built in their domain. Night
and day passed by, but darkness or
light, summer breezes or wintry
storms, had no effect on these busy
little creatures.
As days, and weeks, and months,
and years rolled by, their numbers
increased, and the building grew lar
ger, taking the most fanciful shapes.
Sometimes there were trees, with
their leaves and branches ; and some
times towers, and castles, and spires
grew out of the mass, but still it went
up, up, towards the bright sunshine above. The
busy workers became as countless as the leaves on
the tiees, and after awhile they found themselves
Ueai surface of the water, and then they did
not build any higher, but kept on adding to the
sides of their house, for they knew the warm sun
shine would parch their little bodies.
After awhile the floating sea-weed and drifting
v 'Ood brought by the waves caught on the sharp
tops of this strange building. This kept gathering
nnd rotting till it formed a little island, which con
stantly increased in size as the building below had
( one, until it was firm and hard earth. The fowls
0 ie a * r stopped to rest their tired wings, and
t le seeds they had picked up in far off lands were
ropped on the new island. These sprung up and
grew into tall trees, and the sweet birds hopped
among their branches, and made glad music
among the green leaves and in the cool shade. —
ow long the busy little workers toiled before all
lls Mas d°ue, no man can tell, but in the tropical
‘ O.is, where eternal summer reigns supreme, there
BXJRKE’S WEEKLY.
are many beautiful islands that were formed by
these little creatures ; and sometimes ships strike
on their sharp edges, and go down before the sea
men know where the danger comes from.
Little reader of the Weekly, when you see a
string of bright red coral pearls, remember that
the great coral reefs from which they were taken
were formed by the silent, but ceaseless labor of
tiny insects. Learn from this not to despise little
things, and learn further that the smallest, as well
as the greatest, objects in Nature attest the good
ness and wisdom of your Father which is in
Heaven.
Louina, Ala.
♦<»♦
Repentance begins in the humiliation of
the heart, and ends in the reformation of the life.
THE OWL.
WLS, which belong to the
birds of prey, are a very
numerous family,and are
to be found in all quar-
Mji ters of the globe. They
feed on birds, small quadrupeds
and insects, and some of them on
fjr fish. Those most common in
this country are the barn owl, the
great horned, or cat owl, and the mottled
or screech owl. These are all common at
the South.
Owls are mostly nocturnal in their
habits, remaining concealed during the
day, and coming out at night in pursuit
of their prey. They generally build their
nests in old ruins, or in the hollows of de
cayed trees, and this circumstance, con
nected with the uncouth appearance of
their shaggy heads and great round eyes,
their noiseless flight, the dismal hootings
of some, and the frightful screechings of
others, as heard in the silence and gloom
of night, have caused them to beTregard
cd by the ignorant of all countries with a
kind of superstitious dread. The poets
have indulged in this general prejudice,
and, in their descriptions of midnight
storms and gloomy scenes of nature, the
owl is generally introduced to heighten
the horror of the picture :
“ In the hollow tree, in the old gray tower,
The spectral owl doth dwell;
Dull, hated, despised in the sunshine hour,
But at dusk he’s abroad and well !
Not a bird of the forest e’er mates with
him—
All mock him outright by day;
But at night, when the woods grow still
and dim,
The boldest will shrink away !
“ So, when the night falls, and the dogs do
howl,
Sing ho ! for the reign of the horned owl I
W r e know not alway
Who are Kings by day,
But the King of the night is the bold
brown owl!”
Pour Impossible Things.
First —To escape trouble by
running away from duty. Jo
nah once made the experiment,
but soon found himself where
all his imitators will in the end
find themselves. Therefore,
manfully meet and overcome
the difficulties and trials to
which the post assigned you
by God’s providence exposes
you.
Second —To become a Chris
tian of strength and maturity
without undergoing severe
trials. What fire is to gold,
that is affliction to the believer.
It burns up the dross, and
makes the gold shine forth with unalloy
ed lustre.
Third —To form an independent char
acter except when thrown upon your own
resources. The oak in the middle of the
forest, if surrounded on every side by
trees that shelter and shade it, runs up
tall and sickly; but the same tree grow
ing in the open field, where it is continu
ally beat upon by the tempest, becomes
its own protector. So the man who is com
pelled to rely on his own resources forms
an independence of character to which
he could not otherwise have attained.
Fourth —To be a growing man when
you look to your post for influence, in
stead of bringing influence to your post.
Prefer rather to climb up hill with diffi
culty, than roll down v T ith ingloriouo ease.
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