NEVER A DULL HOUR 



able by mankind. Even water would be tasteless and un- 

 wholesome were it not for the minute diatoms and other 

 microscopic vegetables in it. 



But those who take an interest in flowers and leaves for 

 themselves^ find that they need never spend a dull hour in 

 the country. There is so much to see and to find out, even 

 in the commonest weed or the tiniest floweret. 



But it is necessary to sympathize with them, to try to 

 look at things from their point of view, and not merely from 

 an artistic or collector's standpoint. 



The romance of plant life then becomes a fascinating and 

 engrossing pursuit. But however long one studies it, the 

 knowledge that the wisest naturalist can ever attain to must 

 remain a negligible quantity compared with what he does 

 not know. 



Suppose a mouse happened to stray into the ofiice of the 

 editor of the Times, he might boast to his fellow-mice of 

 his knowledge of the " higher journalism," but his opinions 

 would not really be of very great value on the subject. 



However hard we study, and however much we observe and 

 reflect upon the working of this great world of Nature, we 

 really cannot expect to know more relatively than that little 

 mouse. 



In fact, the more we think, the more humble men of heart 

 we become, and the greater also should be our reverence for 

 the Creator of this wonderful universe. 



174 



