THE MAPLE AND THE SYCAMORE. 135 



first framed to denote the members of our own 

 bodies! The main pillar is the " trunk '," the 

 branches are the " arms ; " in the foliage we have, 

 poetically, the " tresses ; " the sap-vessels are the 

 " veins ; " and in the end, when a name is wanted 

 for the organs of the kindliest office of all, because 

 in charity so sweet, see how soon and accurately by 

 transference from woman ! Unable, from the nature 

 of its organization, to feed its offspring immediately 

 from its own body, as animals do, the plant bestows 

 on every one of its progeny a couple of these pretty 

 prefigurements of the mother's bosom ; and however 

 far the wind may carry them away, whatever geo- 

 graphical accident may befal them, nevertheless, 

 within the shell, as soon as the latent life begins 

 to stir, here are these delicate cotyledons able and 

 ready to give suck. "When, as happens in certain 

 races of plants, the cotyledons are exceedingly 

 minute, the deficiency is compensated by an abun- 

 dant storage within the shell of the seed, of the self- 

 same kind of nutriment. The likeness of the foliage 

 of a tree, especially when pendulous and waving, to 

 hair, and particularly to ringlets, is the ground of 

 many a beautiful phrase in the classic poets ; Ovid, 

 for instance, in his " arboreas mulceat aura comas." 

 Similar lines occur in many places in high-class 

 English poetry, and will occur on the instant to 

 every accomplished mind. These sycamore seeds 

 vegetate with remarkable facility; and from some 



