Fields once stony and hard have become rich and fine. Things grow now where once scarcely anything would grow. Ashes and gravel, once on top, go two or three inches below.
All this is done by the busy worms. That is why I said that you could call the tail end of the worm the tool with which he helps to build the world.
Worms at work under ground have caused great walls and pavements to sink, as the earth sinks over mines. Also, they have helped to bury ruins and old cities, and to keep them safe hidden, until we found them. We are glad when we learn of the old world days, from ruins which the worms helped to hide.
Then, too, the worms help make the soil rich, by the dead leaves and stems which they drag into their holes to decay. When the worms die, their bodies also help to make the earth more fertile.
LESSON XIV.
MR. WORM’S COTTAGE BY THE SEA.
On the seashore you will find two or three kinds of worms. These are called “Tube Worms,” from the shape of the houses which they build. Some of them are called “Swimming Worms.”
The swimming worm is cousin to another family of creatures which look like worms, but have many feet. They have a name which means “many feet.”
You know that on most of the rings, in the body of the worm, are hairs or hooks. You can see how easy it would be for these to become feet.
Each animal seems to have parts that are like some other animals, and some new forms of its own. Thus, next the worm, with his rings and hooks, comes another animal with rings and feet. Of all the ring animals, Mr. Worm is the pattern, and after him comes his cousin, Mr. Many-Feet.