YOUNGER YEARS OF A PLANT. 1R3 



tioned in the MSS. in which his donation and the building 

 itself are described; it also flourishes still, and bears as 

 fragrant roses in these years of change and revolution, 

 as eight hundred years ago, when Germany was one and 

 great ! 



Most plants are accustomed we hope not for their sins 

 to cover themselves, like our first parents, with leaves, 

 and it is well established now, that the plant, properly 

 speaking, consists only of stem and leaves all other parts, 

 like buds, flowers and fruits, being only modified forms 

 of leaves. These are mostly green, and the depth of 

 their color is an indication of the healthfulness of their 

 action. But there are a hundred shades, and the color 

 invariably contrasts most beautifully with the back-ground, 

 on which the plants appear. The humble moss shines 

 with its brilliant emerald green on the dark sides of 

 rocks, whilst mushrooms display their gorgeous scarlet and 

 orange between the sombre rugged roots of the trees, 

 under whose shadow they love to dwell. The glossy color 

 of the ivy looks all the more cheerful by the gray bark 

 of crumbling ruins, which it hides with the folds of its 

 warm mantle, and vies with the carpet of verdure that 

 vines spread over old turrets or the fallen trunks of an- 

 cient trees, whilst in fall they reflect permanently the gold 

 and purple of the setting sun. But, here also, beauty is 

 not given to all with the same lavish hand. Whilst the 

 queenly Victoria floats its richly-tinted leaves in gorgeous 

 beauty on the dark mirror of calm, shady lakes, the poor 

 lichens of the north shiver in their scanty coat : gray and 

 withered in the shade, they look, when lighted up for a 



