146 THE BIRCH AND THE ALDER. 



not that which fascinates on the first view, but that 

 which waxes lovelier the longer it abides with us, or 

 we with it. The "curious" things in nature are 

 not, as some weakly imagine, the casualties, the 

 anomalies, or the extremes ; but those dear old ways 

 which God has daily manifested ever since the 

 morning-stars sang together, and which coustitute a 

 large portion of the alphabet through which, by 

 reverent watching, we may gather insights into the 

 Divine order and munificence. To the earnest 

 seeker after truth, a cowslip is more precious than a 

 twin-apple or a triple hazel-nut, strange vagaries as 

 they are; the "common things" of the world will 

 for ever keep the firmest hold upon human interest 

 and human affections, just as domestic love, new 

 and fragrant every morning, is better, and better 

 esteemed, than the largess of a prince. 



The character by which the birch and alder are 

 brought together is found in the fruit. While they 

 correspond with the rest of the amentiferous class 

 of forest-trees in producing their male flowers in 

 catkins, they differ from all (except the feathery- 

 seeded willows and poplars) and agree between 

 themselves, in having the female flowers developed 

 in catkins likewise. Generically, the alders are dis- 

 tinguished by their hard and woody fruit-catkins, 

 the scales of which are persistent; while in the 

 birches the scales fall asunder, crumbling, when 

 ripe, beneath the pressure of the fingers, and liberat- 



