FERNS, MOSSES, AND LIVERWORTS. 93 



what these mosses are ; none are delicate enough, 

 none perfect enough, none rich enough as the earth's 

 first mercy, so they are its 

 last gift to us. When all 

 other service is vain from 

 plant and tree, the soft 

 mosses and gray lichen 

 take up their watch by the 

 head-stone. The woods, 

 the blossoms, the gift- 

 bearing grasses have done 

 their parts for a time, but 

 these do service for ever. 

 Trees for the builder's 

 yard, flowers for the 

 bride's chamber, corn for 

 the granary, moss for the 

 grave. Yet, as in one 

 sense, the humblest, in 

 another, they are the 

 most honoured of the 

 earth-children ; unfading 

 as motionless, the warm 

 summer frets them not, 

 and the autumn wastes 

 not. Strong in lowliness, 

 they neither blanch in 

 heat, nor pine in frost. 

 To them, slow - fingered, 

 constant - headed, is en- 

 trusted the weaving of 

 the dark eternal tapes- COMMON HAIR ' MOSS - 



