EFFECTS OF DECAY. 937 
place, the same process of rotting goes forward; 
and so, in the course of the next year, all the 
saline and mineral substances of these leaves and 
plants become mingled with, and restored to, 
the soil. 
The process of rotting, then, in the dead parts 
of plants is one of great importance. It may 
indeed be far from agreeable to our feelings to 
watch the golden straw become converted into 
the filthy manure, and we may perhaps feel 
much annoyed at the damage done by this pro- 
cess to the timbers we had stored up for our 
own use. But in the changes here proceeding, 
we ought to mark, with feelings of wonder and 
of love, the working out of a great and beau- 
tiful design in creation; one, in fact, without 
the operation of which we should become sub- 
ject to far greater inconveniences than those 
just alluded to; or indeed, to any others 
that might arise out of this principle of de- 
cay. The great dramatic poet wrote that we 
might 
“ Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.” 
