Imatges de pàgina
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11. But mosses are perhaps the most interesting of this first division of the Cryptogamia; and to them we proceed in the next Lesson.

1 IM-PĂL ́-PA-BLE, that can not be felt; not GLAIVE, a broadsword.

coarse.

2 SHEEN'-EST, brightest (obsolete).

3 GLINT-ED, glanced; reflected.

5 TARGE, a tär'-get or shield.

6 JACK, a coat of mail.

LESSON XXIII.—THE MOSSES. (ACROGENS.)

[NOTE.-The following lines apply, perhaps, more appropriately to the Lichens than to the Mosses. (See Lesson XXV.) But lichens are in common language called mosses.]

1.

2.

3.

THE lovely moss! on the lowly cot
It lies like an emerald crown,

And the summer shower pierceth it not,
As it comes rushing down;

And I love its freshened brilliancy,
When the last rain hath pattered,

And the sparkling drops on its surface lie,
Like stars from the pure sky scattered.
And I love, I love to see it much,

When on the ruin gray,

That crumbles with Time's heavy touch,
It spreads its mantle gay;

While the cold ivy only gives,

As it shivereth, thoughts of fear,
The closely clinging moss still lives,

Like a friend, forever near.

But oh! I love the bright moss most

When I see it thickly spread

On the sculptured stone, that fain would boast

Of its forgotten dead.

For I think if that lowly thing can efface

The fame that earth hath given,

Who is there that would ever chase

Glory, save that of Heaven?-Miss M. A. BROWNE.

4. Mosses are interesting little evergreens, with distinct leaves, and frequently a distinct stem. They do not, like ferns, bear their fructification upon the leaves, but in a little case or urn that is borne on a long distinct stalk. The pulpy matter that is contained in this case becomes dry in ripening, and when arrived at maturity it flies off in the form of an extremely subtile powder, which serves for the propagation of the plant.

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5. Mosses are fond of moisture, shade, and retirement; enlivening the dark recesses of solitude by the vivid green of their diminutive foliage; and it is with "mossy fountains,' especially, that we have been taught to associate ideas of "cool refreshment," and the quiet of nature in repose.

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6. Mosses are found in the hottest as well as the coldest climates, growing alike amid torrid sands and arctic snows; and when a coral island springs up above the crested wave, the green moss first crowns its barren summit, and prepares the living rock for the growth of higher forms of vegetation. It was by the contemplation of a delicate moss plant that the heart of Mungo Park, the African traveler, was revived, when the difficulties by which he was surrounded had almost extinguished hope within him. The passage has been often quoted, but, it may be hoped, never without its use, and it does not seem superfluous to introduce it here.

7. This enterprising traveler, during one of his journeys into the interior of Africa, was cruelly stripped and robbed of all that he possessed by banditti. "In this forlorn and almost helpless condition," he says, "when the robbers had left me, I sat for some time looking around me with amaze-ment and terror. Whichever way I turned, nothing appeared but danger and difficulty. I found myself in the midst of a vast wilderness, in the depth of the rainy season-naked and alone-surrounded by savage animals, and by men still more savage. I was five hundred miles from any European settlement. All these circumstances crowded at once upon my recollection, and I confess that my spirits began to fail I considered my fate as certain, and that I had no alternative but to lie down and perish.

me.

8. "The influence of religion, however, aided and supported me. I reflected that no human prudence or foresight could possibly have averted my present sufferings. I was indeed a stranger in a strange land, yet I was still under the protecting eye of that Providence who has condescended to call himself the stranger's friend. At this moment, painful as my reflections were, the extraordinary beauty of a small moss irresistibly caught my eye; and though the whole plant was not larger than the top of one of my fingers, I could not contemplate the delicate conformation of its roots, leaves, and fruit without admiration. Can that Being (thought I) who planted, watered, and brought to perfection, in this obscure part of the world, a thing which appears of so small importance, look with unconcern upon the situation and suffering of creatures formed after his own image? Surely not. Reflections like these would not allow me to despair. I started up, and, disregarding both hunger and fatigue, traveled forward, assured that relief was at hand; and I was not disappointed."

9. A distinguished French writer, Rousseau, was particularly fond of mosses. He would often say that they gave an air of youth and freshness to our fields, adorning nature when flowers had vanished. The moss is a useful plant also. The Laplanders protect their humble dwellings with moss, and line the cradles of their little ones with it. May not this ex

plain why a tuft of moss is an emblem of maternal love? Little birds also select the delicate moss for their nests, and squirrels convey it to their winter abodes.

10.

"Within a thick and spreading hawthorn bush,
That overhangs a molehill large and round,
I heard, from morn to morn, a merry thrush
Sing hymns to sunrise, and I drank the sound
With joy; and, often an intruding guest,
I watched her secret toils from day to day-
How true she warped the moss to form a nest,
And modeled it within with wood and clay."

11. And now, having described the ferns and the mosses, and illustrated them with drawings, we will conclude the first division of the Flowerless Plants with the following beautiful lines by Eliza Cook, which show very forcibly the wisdom of God in creating different species of plants, as well as in permitting the various degrees of what men call prosperity to different classes in society.

LESSON XXIV.—THE FERN AND THE MOSS.

1. THERE was a fern on the mountain, and moss on the moor;
And the ferns were the rich, and the mosses the poor.
And the glad breeze blew gayly; from Heaven it came,
And the fragrance it shed over each was the same;
And the warm sun shone brightly, and gilded the fern,
And smiled on the lowly-born moss in its turn;
And the cool dews of night on the mountain fern fell,
And they glistened upon the green mosses as well.
And the fern loved the mountain, the moss loved the moor,
For the ferns were the rich, and the mosses the poor.
2. But the keen blast blew bleakly, the sun waxed high,
And the ferns they were broken, and withered, and dry;
And the moss on the moorland grew faded and pale,
And the fern and the moss shrank alike from the gale.
So the fern on the mountain, the moss on the moor,
Were withered and black where they flourished before.
3. Then the fern and the moss they grew wiser in grief,
And each turned to the other for rest and relief;

And they planned that wherever the fern-roots should grow,
There surely the moss should be sparkling below.

4. And the keen blasts blew bleakly, the sun waxed fierce ;
But no wind and no sun to their cool roots could pierce;

For the fern threw her shadow the green moss upon,
Where the dew ever sparkled undried by the sun;
When the graceful fern trembled before the keen blast,
The moss guarded her roots till the storm-wind had passed;
So no longer the wind parched the roots of the one,
And the other was safe from the rays of the sun.

5. And thus, and forever, where'er the ferns grow,
There surely the mosses lie sparkling below;

And thus they both flourish, where naught grew before,
And they both deck the woodland, and mountain, and moor.

ELIZA COOK.

LESSON XXV.-LICHENS. (THALLOGENS.)

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1. Cenomy'ce sporas'sa, Ventricose lichen, xxi. 8, woods, 2 in. 2. Cenomy'ce delica'ta, Delicate lichen, mealy patch, xxi. 8, on rotten rails, in. (a. enlarged). 3. Cenomy'ce rangiferi'na, Reindeer lichen, xxi. 8, woods, 2 in. 4. Licide'a lu'rida, Lurid lichen, xxi.. 8, rocky highlands, 3 in. (b. enlarged). 5. Cali'cium chrysoceph'alum, Yellow-head lichen, xxi. 8, lem. col., 3 in. (c. enlarged). 6. Lecano'ra ocula'ta, Mottled lichen, xxi. 8, rocks and earth, w., 2 in. (d. enlarged). 7. Cali'cium capitella'tum, Sulphur lichen, xxi. 8, gr. and y.,in., sandy soil (e. enlarged). 8. Rocel'la tincto'ria, Dyer's lichen (yields a fine purple color), xxi. 8, y. and br., 1 in. 9. Cetra'ria Islan'dica, Iceland moss (used in medicine), xxi. 8, ol. br., 2 in.

1. Ar the head of the second division of the cryptogamia are the Lichens,1 a race of tiny2 plants, very common, and yet but little known to the world, though possessed of a beauty by no means inferior to that of gorgeous flowers or lofty trees. Man is but too apt to admire the boundless wealth and beauty

of our great mother, Nature, only where gigantic proportions arrest his attention, or when the storm of enraged elements makes him aware of his own insignificance.

2. Surely his head was not set on high that he might despise low things! But, te see the beauties with which every corner and crevice is decked, to read the lessons conveyed in Nature's subtlest works, something more than the eye is required. We must be willing and able to listen to every beetle's lowly hum, to greet every flower, by the wayside as it looks up to us and to heaven, and to question every stone, every pebble. If we thus look upon the tiny lichens around us, we may here also soon learn that, even in the smallest proportions,

"Not a beauty blows,

And not an opening blossom breathes in vain."

3. Lichens, of which more than two thousand species have been described by botanists, assume a great variety of forms, and vary from a mere speck and shriveled leaf to a branching leafless plant a foot or more in height. In their most common forms, in which they are generally known as rock moss or tree moss, they are fleshy or leather-like substances growing on rocks, trees, and old buildings, forming broad patches of various colors, some being of a bluish gray, and others of the richest golden yellow; some spread upon the ground-and these have usually a much larger growth; some, again, hang from the branches of venerable trees, which they clothe with a shaggy beard of gray; and others shoot up from the barren heath, gray and deformed, but eventually fashioning themselves into tiny goblets, the borders of which are studded with crimson shields.

4. Perhaps the most beautiful of all, as well as the most common, are the wall lichens, some of which spread out like

wrinkled leaflets, while other varieties assume a beautiful circular form, resembling in outline and shape the fairest rose; and of these it has been said, with quaint but truthful words,

"Careless of thy neighborhood,

Thou dost show thy pleasant face
On the moor and in the wood,
In the lane-there is no place,
Howsoever mean it be,

But 'tis good enough for thee."

And, in reality, there are but few surfaces long exposed to wind

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