THE AQUARIUM, JULY, 1896. 



51 



birds and dropped on ledges of rocks, in 

 any handful of soil that may grow there, 

 to sprout and germinate and grow, and to 

 reproduce in their turn seeds for future 

 growth ; winged seeds, such as the 

 thistle, the dandelion, etc., are elevated 

 by the winds till they stop in some 

 favored places ; hooked seeds, such as 

 are familiarly called "cleavers" or 

 ''burrs," entangled on the dress of the 

 passer-by, or hanging to the hair or 

 fleecy coverings of animals, may be 

 carried miles away and find their rest- 

 ing place even in other lands. Whilst 

 men put seeds into the ground by mill- 

 ions, with due care, Nature plants and 

 sows on a larger scale, sui'passing man 

 while he is busy, and going on with her 

 work whilst he is sleeping or making 

 holiday. For every tree that falls, thou- 

 sands are sown ; for every flower that 

 fades, millions more are provided. What 

 we do with pains and care in our flower 

 beds, is done silently all over the 

 continents of our globe. New life is 

 provided before decay begins. How 

 beautifully are the shadows thrown 

 abroad and the fine transparent haze, 

 which is diffused over the valleys and 

 plains. The shadows play all day long 

 at silent games of beauty ; everything 

 is double if it stands in light. The 

 tree has an unrevealed and muffled self 

 lying darkly along the ground ; the 

 slender stems of flowers, " golden rod," 

 ''wayside asters," "meadow daisies" 

 and rare lilies cast forth a dim and 

 tremulous line of shadow that lies long 

 all the morning, shortening till noon, 

 and creeping out again all the after- 

 noon until the sun descends yon western 

 horizon. Meanwhile the clouds drop 

 shadows like anchors, that reach the 

 ground but will not hold ; every brows- 

 ing creature, every flitting bird, every 

 unconscious traveler writes itself along 



the ground in dim shadow. And, 

 speaking of the clouds, let us pause for 

 a few minutes while we look with ad- 

 miration at the ever changing variety 

 and beauty, at the gorgeous scenery of 

 summer cloudland, the exquisite variety 

 of tints, the graceful motions and the 

 changing shadows which flit over hill 

 and dale. The flnest dyes and most 

 skillful looms can never equal the tap- 

 estry with which God decorates our 

 earthly abode. These are pictures shut 

 up in no secluded gallery, to be seen 

 only by the rich, but they are spread 

 alike before the lowly and the lofty, in 

 the city and in the remotest solitudes, 

 where all may drink in their beauty 

 and discern the wisdom and the skill of 

 Him who made them. Even the child, 

 as he gazes dreamily at the tiny Avhite 

 speck floating far away in the blue 

 ether, has his little soul filled with in- 

 terest ; and when he sees dark masses 

 of vapor come rolling up slowly and 

 majestically, fold after fold, from the 

 distant horizon, his imagination will 

 transform those fantastic shapes into 

 gigantic snow-capped mountains, tow- 

 ering peak upon peak, until he almost 

 longs for wings to fly and explore their 

 far-off summits. But how compara- 

 tively few, children or adults, ever 

 pause to give themselves a matter of 

 fact explanation of the actual forma- 

 tion of clouds, the unerring laws of 

 their creation or dispersion, or the vast 

 beneflcent part they take in the econ- 

 omy of Nature. The question may be 

 asked, why there are on some days 

 clouds, and again on others none ? The 

 answer is, there are clouds always, 

 although not always visible, or, to be 

 more correct, the material of which 

 clouds are made is always there ; for if 

 the air is warmed by the shooting 

 down of the sun's rays for days 



