146 THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE 



up a dozen unseen things — a pad of 

 partridge vine, an umbel of ginseng, a 

 wind flower; in another year the round 

 leaves of the pyrola may appear and 

 promenade in pairs and trios quite at 

 their ease, until the fern bed becomes 

 a constant mystery. For many years 

 some slow awaking seeds will germi- 

 nate, the rarer violets, perhaps an 

 orchis. 



I brought a mat of club moss, with a 

 good lump of earth, as was my habit, 

 from the distant woods. Several years 

 after, happening to stop to clear away 

 some dead branches, 1 started in sur- 

 prise, for enthroned in the centre of 

 the moss, a very queen, was a dark 

 pink cypripedium, the Indian mocca- 

 sin. It is an orchid very shy of trans- 

 position, seldom living over the second 

 season after its removal, seeming to 

 grieve for its native home with the 



