I used to go , now and then , to see how the little fellows got on , and always found them hard at it . For a long while there was only a little plant without leaves , growing slowly taller and taller ; for they always build upward toward the light . By and by , the small shrub was a tree : flying-fish roosted in its branches ; sea-cows lay under its shadow ; and thousands of jolly little polypes lived and worked in its white chambers . I was glad to see them getting on so well ; but still I did n't believe in the island story , and used to joke them about their ambition . They were very good-natured , and only answered me , ` Wait a little longer , Friend Right . ' I had my own affairs to attend to ; so , for years at a time , I forgot the coral-workers , and spent most of my life up Greenland way , for warm climates do n't agree with my constitution . When I came back , after a long absence , I was astonished to see the tree grown into a large umbrella-shaped thing , rising above the water . Sea-weed had washed up and clung there ; sea-birds had made nests there ; land-birds and the winds had carried seeds there , which had sprung up ; trunks of trees had been cast there by the sea ; lizards , insects , and little animals came with the trees , and were the first inhabitants ; and , behold ! it was an island . '' `` What did you say then ? '' asked Freddy . `` I was angry , and did n't want to own that I was wrong ; so I insisted that it was n't a real island , without people on it . ` Wait a little longer , ' answered the polypes ; and went on , building broader and broader foundations . I flounced away in a rage , and did n't go back for a great while . I hoped something would happen to the coral builders and their island ; but I was so curious that I could n't keep away , and , on going back there , I found a settlement of fishermen , and the beginning of a thriving town . Now I should have been in a towering passion at this , if in my travels I had n't discovered a race of little creatures as much smaller than polypes as a mouse is smaller than an elephant . I heard two learned men talking about diatoms , as they sailed to Labrador ; and I listened . They said these people lived in both salt and fresh water , and were found in all parts of the world . They were a glassy shell , holding a soft , golden-yellow substance , and that they were so countless that banks were made of them , and that a town here in these United States was founded on them . They were the food of many little sea-animals , who , in turn , fed us big creatures , and were very interesting and wonderful .
I saved up this story ; and , when the XXXXX asked if they had n't done what they intended , I told them I did n't think it so very remarkable , for the tiny diatoms made cities , and were far more astonishing animals than they .
Freddy Labrador Right Sea-weed States coral-workers first polypes sea-birds years