FOOTNOTES' 



THE PAGE OF NATURE. 



CHAPTER I. MOSSES. 



"And upon the top of the pillars was lily-work." 



1 KINGS vn. 22. 



THERE is nothing more calculated to strike the thoughtful 

 mind with astonishment than the boundless prodigality 

 with which the riches of nature are thrown broadcast 

 over the whole surface of the earth. The most lovely 

 objects are, as it were, carelessly scattered here and there 

 in waste spots and lonely unvisited haunts, where there 

 is no hand to gather, and no eye to admire them. The 

 great temple of Nature is like the magnificent and gor- 

 geous old temple of Solomon, upon the top of every 

 pillar is lily-work. The massive and rugged foundation 

 stones of the earth are almost completely concealed by 

 a profusion of graceful and beautiful things, the grass, 

 the flowers, the forests ; while the craggy pillars have 

 their capitals enwreathed with exqxiisite garlands of ferns 

 and mosses. ' Not a rock peeps above the surface of the 

 soil but has its steep sides clothed with rainbow-hued 



