1885 



GLEANl^^GS LN UEE CULTURE. 



423 



were mostl.v the common kinds— the flat green and 

 gray discs that spread over old rails, and on tree- 

 trunks in all damp places. We found numbers of 

 what we used to call " clocks " when I was a child. 

 We took them and marked the hours on them with 

 the hands pointing- to dinner time, and set them up 

 in our playhouses. We found many red ones of the 

 kind, and they were all small and much prettier 

 than the white-faced ones. We found one that 

 looks like a pansy— purple round the edges, then 

 shaded gray, only these are all double, and I never 

 saw a double pansy. These, Minnie says, are 

 "rare;" and amon<!- her collection there are only 

 four or five; then there is a little horny kind that 

 looks like miniature deer-horns. 



Well, they filled all the baskets and bo.ves. while I 

 sat on a log and read a paper. When we started 

 home we tried another path, and it led up a north 

 hill-side where the frost was not yet out, but the 

 ground was soft for an inch or two, and we went 

 slipping and sliding every which way; and here it 

 was that the assistance of my escort was needed, 

 and he came gallantly to the rescue. 



" Come here, mamma, come here; lu-rc is I he best 

 way; here, I'll hold to this tree, and \<)ii take my 

 hand, and I'll pull you up." 



The t)X€ that he took hold ol' wms a lia/cl liii.>ih, 

 and I let him help me. 



Minnie is scientiflc. She has a collection ot i)lants 

 and flowers, a collection »/f insects, antl now she is 

 making a collection of epiphytes. She has :.2 ditl'er- 

 ent kinds now, and she has had it only six weeks. 

 One of her specimens is the long gray moss that I 

 got off a tree on the o\erHowe(i banks of the .Sliss- 

 )ssipi)i last spring. Mahai.a H. ('haddock. 



Vermont, III. 



Well, my friend, yoti have tauKlil me 

 soinetliinjf lliat I didn't know before. We 

 always call these fungoid j^rowtlis wiiich 

 yon (leseribe. by tiie^^eneral name of ••i)iink."" 

 imd we l)()ys used to patlier it and ix'cl it in- 

 to strips for lightinfi: tires. ( )ur parents nsed 

 to employ the same material, or something; 

 similar, for fjettinu tile from Mint and steel. 

 I wonder liow many of the hoys nowadays 

 know that a liie may be kindled by striking 

 a piece of steel a<'ross the ed.ije of a Mint. In 

 regard to these ei)ipliytes, there is some- 

 thing that is very wonderfnl ai»ont them. 

 They grow very (inickly: and if yon break 

 theiii in two, yon will (ind that they liave a 

 librons structure like other vegetation ; but 

 it looks odd to see the liber niiuiing cross- 

 wise of the plant. 1 never thought of using 

 them for clock-dials, but I have noticed the 

 pearly whiteness of some of the half-round 

 ones. They seem to grow from a sort of col- 

 ored water"! charged with vegetable matter, 

 which collects something in the way the 

 stalactites form in Mammoth Cave ; and in 

 damp woods the growth is so rapid you can 

 almost see it move. Some years ago 1 de- 

 termined to go to my Abbyville Sabbath- 

 school during a soaking rain; and on my 

 way back I was rewarded by a sight of epi- 

 phytes really at the business of growing. I 

 took a short cut through a piece of woods to 

 save time ; and while getting over a fence 

 I noticed a dark brownisli liquid oozing 

 from an old log. The liquid was so thick 

 with this old vegetable matter that a sort of 

 scum, o^- transparent covering, had formed 



around the liquid. This jelly-like covering 

 was something like transparent leather or 

 oil cloth, and the vegetable fibers were 

 growing on it while 1 looked on. After 

 what you have told in regard to these, I 

 shall look on them with more wonder and 

 curiosity than lever did before; in fact. I am 

 itching just now to go off into the woods and 

 study up the subject. Can you tell us " chil- 

 dren"" of any books that treat on the subject? 

 I am astonished to know that these are really 

 air-plants: for since you mention it. from 

 what I find in Wood's Botany it seems they 

 would come under"that class." 



WOBKING TO THE LINE. 



Not with eye service, as uien-pleasers. l)ut as the 

 servants of Christ, doing the will of (iod from the 

 heart.— Eph.6: ti. 



"WTOT long ago there were some carpenters work- 

 1*1 ing at our house; and as one youna^ man 

 Ml went to Ht the window-casing lie had some 

 ' trouble with it, and I said to the head car- 

 penter, "What's [the matter':'" He replied. 

 " He did not sawjto the mark where I inarke<l the 

 board," so you see the eonseiiuenee was, the l)oai-d 

 was s|)<>iled and the time lost. 



The thought at once struck me, how many there 

 are in this world who can not be guided by the line: 

 In their haste or indifference or recklessness they 

 go wide from it. Now, a good servant is as faithful 

 when his master is away from him. as in his sight. 

 Some day this joung man will come to realize what 

 a careless habit he has allowed himself to form; 

 forilhe wishes to learn the trade, and still con- 

 tinues in this way, in the end he will be only an in- 

 different workman. He will find it difficult to se- 

 cure steady woi-k. When " times are dull " he will 

 lie one of the first sent adrift, and the last employed 

 when times imjirove. And;.all this comes front 

 mere carelessness, mere inattention and lack of i?i- 

 tercst. It is just as easy to lollow a line as it is to 

 saw away from it. 15ut one must use his eyes, and 

 give his attention to what he is doing— that's all. 



Hut w (• can make a wider application of this than 

 Just to that young carpenter. When we see any 

 one doing shiftless work, failing to put conscience 

 into his work, thinking that will "do " which is only 

 half done, I say yo\i had better saw to the nmrk; 

 for if you don't, by and by the eonseqnences will go 

 hard with you; and, nine cases out of ten. you will 

 go around grui"V)ling at your " bad luck," just as if 

 there were anybody to blame but yourself. 



I have seen clerks who were only eye - servants — 

 very diligent when their employer was watching, 

 but careless and neglectful the inoment that vigi- 

 lance was rela.ved. I think you are not sawing to 

 the line; some day you will have a peremptory dis- 

 missal, and find yourself loaded with a confirmed 

 hal)it of shirking, that is very hard to get rid of. 

 You will then see that it is always best to be faith- 

 ful, even on the ground of self-interest. 



When I see a scholar just fooling away his time- 

 that is no word for it -not a /'hard boy," perhaps, 

 as the school phrase goes, but just wasting the 

 "golden hours" when he ought] to be .laying the 

 foundation of , a good education, "getting away" 

 as easily as possible,'instead of setting himself to 

 master those studies, right here you see we find an- 

 other who is faithful only in eye service. One of 



