82 COLIN CLOUT'S CALENDAR. 



self-governing living creature ; and it is this that adds 

 such a charm to the new conception of nature which has 

 been opened before the naturalists of the present genera- 

 tion. We need no longer think of the plants as things 

 that were made once for all ; we may think of them as 

 things that grew and improved and almost invented ; and 

 that idea immensely deepens the interest with which we 

 can watch all their innocent ways and curious half- 

 reasoning ingenious devices. 



