and others live to be a great age. We never know when the Lord will call us, so it is wise to belong to the Lord Jesus and to be a true believer in Him and in His Bible while we are young. Then we will be in the safekeeping of the blessed Saviour throughout our lives. “ And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the sec ond time without sin unto salva tion” (Heb. 9:27, 28). Land snails’ eyes are found on the tips of horns that stick out from their heads. These are not hard horns like those of a cow. They are soft like your little finger. There are four of these horns. Two of them are longer than the other two, and the eyes are found on the longer pair. When the snail goes to sleep or hides for the winter, these horns are pulled in like the fingers of a glove. The eye sinks down in side of the horn and so it is well protected from injury. Did you know that a snail has teeth? I never counted a snail’s teeth but an inquiring dentist did, and he reported that he found a hundred and thirty-five rows of teeth with a hundred and fifteen teeth in each row. See how many teeth that would be. The snails’ food is certainly ground fine be fore it is swallowed! The snail moves very slowly, as you know. It does not have feet or wings. It simply crawls along on its fiat stomach and makes fairly good progress by doing so. It has some enemies and, of course, its enemies have some trouble because of the hard shell. I have a picture of a thrush eat ing a snail. I am told that nearly all thrushes eat snails. When the bird picks up the snail in its beak, the snail crawls up into the shell and hides. This does not bother the thrush at all. It merely finds a stone and hammers the shell on the stone until it breaks it. Then, of course, the bird can easily eat the snail.
JUNIOR KING’S BUSINESS
What the Snail Can Teach Us
by Dr. Walter L. Wilson
W E C A N l e a r n many inter esting and su rp r is in g things about the snail. He is a strange little soft, jelly-like fel low that carries his house (shell) on his back. This is convenient, for if he is attacked by his enemy, he slips into his house and hides in that bony shell. When he goes to sleep (he does this in winter) he crawls into his shell, squeezes all the water out, and seals the shell shut with a strange chalky substance that is porous. Insects cannot crawl through this lid but air can get through, and so the snail lives snugly all winter long. Only the God of heaven would have created such a strange and peculiar living thing as the snail. “ All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” All snails are not so small as this one about which we have been speaking. In South America and on some islands there are snails which are as long as six inches. These snails lay eggs that are as large as a sparrow’s egg. You didn’t know that, did you, little folk? Probably Daddy and
Mother did not know it, either. The shells of these eggs are much like those of birds’ eggs, and when the snail hatches, it is just like its mother. Things happen in nature, dear little folk, which do not always happen in the Christian life. Chil dren are not always like their parents. Sometimes a very godly father and mother will have a very bad child who does not want to be good. Do let me counsel all you little friends who read this story to trust the Lord Jesus as your Saviour. Believe in that love ly One who died for your sins at Calvary and then you, too, will grow up to be a fine, lovely Chris tian. “ But Jesus said, suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19: 14). Some snails live a long time. The giant sea snail lives for thir ty years. Pond snails live only about a year. Land snails live from two to five years. The same is true of people, isn’t it? Some people live just a few years. Some grow to be young men and women
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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