XIII. 



AN EVENING AT THE MICROSCOPE. 



"The very meanest things are made. supreme 

 With innate ecstasy. No grain of sand 

 But moves a bright and million-peopled land, 

 And hath its Edens and its Eves, I deem." 



L. BLANCHABD. 



OCCASIONALLY I am honoured with a 

 visit from some of my friends who 

 .come to see whatever microscopical 

 wonders I may chance to have. In a 

 small aquarium I endeavour to keep a few, at least, 

 of the tiny plants and animalculae which I have 

 managed to fish out of the ponds and ditches and 

 brooks of the neighbourhood. Tangled water- weeds, 

 floating scum, prolific duckweed, dripping bog-moss, 

 bedraggled reeds and rushes, anything and every- 

 thing that could be hauled out and squeezed into 

 my jars, have been promiscuously collected, and, 

 after a cursory examination and rough clearing, 

 tossed into this miniature world which is bounded 

 on all four sides by glass, and covered at the bottom 

 with pebbles, loam, and, water-plants. Sometimes, 

 no doubt, my friends feel bored with my prolix 



