THE LIFE OF A FERN. 193 



but to glorious vales and to mountain tops, where fresh health- 

 laden breezes play around him, and he can delight in scenes of 

 grandeur and loveliness to a degree which only a true lover of 

 nature knows. 



A poet I have read gave sweet expression to thoughts and 

 feelings which I have often shared, when he wrote thus : 



" Oh ! God be praised for a home 



Begirt with beauty rare, 

 A perfect home, where gentle thoughts 

 Are trained 'mid scenes so fair ; 



" And where (God grant it so) the heart 



That loves a beauteous view, 

 The while it grows in truth and taste 

 May grow in goodness too. 



" For 'tis my creed that part to part 



So clingeth in the soul, 

 That whatsoe'er doth better one, 

 That bettereth the whole. 



"And whoso readeth nature's book, 



Widespread throughout the earth, 

 Will something add unto his love 

 Of wisdom and of worth." 



Happy are those who can find relief from the worry and 

 turmoil of business in the observation and study of the myriad 

 forms of life which flourish upon the earth, or whose record is 

 laid up within its rocks. But blessed is he who, from the con- 

 templation of objects so varied, wonderful, and beautiful, can 

 with a full heart look upward to a God reconciled in Christ, 

 and in reverential and loving worship exclaim, "My Father 

 made them all ! " 



