19 



CHAPTEE lY. 



VEGETATION OF SEA-WEEDS. 



Acquaint thyself witli Nature. Nature's God 



Exclude not from liis works. Know and adore, 



Yea, love Him as a Father ; — with Him walk. 



Then, sweet to roam and trace the tiny brook 



To where it bubbles from its parent fount. 



And mark, as it meanders through the vale. 



How the rath primrose smiles on sunny brae, 



And di'ooping hyacinths perfume the dell — 



Sweet, too, to climb the mountain's heath- clad brow. 



To cull, 'mid cliifs, the haunt of ptarmigan. 



Rare alpine flowers that scorn the lowly vale. — 



But sweeter far to float upon the deep 



And gaze with wistful eye on all below, — 



On groves of olive tangle, intertwined 



With bright festoons of gayer, gentler algues, 



Subundane drapery, so rich and fair. 



That, like the pearl-diver, one is prone 



To cleave with downward plunge the sea-green wave. 



To grasp, and bear aloft the tempting prize. 



As trophy gained from mermaid's gay parterre. — D. L. 



Land-plants are divided into annual^ biennial^ and peren- 

 nial ; and this seems to be the case also with marine plants. 

 Many of the more tender kinds are evidently annual^ nay. 



