CHAP. xxin. REFORM AND MOSSES. 397 



His brother-in-law having wished him a " good new 

 year," Dick replied : " So far as I am concerned, I have 

 not the smallest hope of seeing a good new year any more 

 in this world. That is all over long ago. You are young, 

 and hope is strong in you ; but you will yet learn that 

 nothing satisfactory exists here below. The world is 

 turned all over since I first knew it. Patience is best" 



Yet Dick never lost his good temper, his charity, or 

 his hope. To his brother-in-law, when in trouble, he 

 said : " Never lose heart. Always look on the bright 

 side of every cloud ; and perhaps you may see the bow 

 of hope beyond." He still went on collecting grasses, 

 ferns, and flowering plants, working, in the evenings, 

 at the completion of his herbarium. In the meantime 

 he went on collecting mosses. 



"Some people," said he, "talk about Reform. I 

 observe that the Franchise is to be reduced to 6 and 

 10. I wish the new voters may derive all the pleasure 

 they expect. I never dabble in politics. It does not 

 suit my nature. But other folk must be tickling them- 

 selves with straws, or grasping at shadows, not knowing 

 that they are themselves to blame for the unhappiness 

 that befalls them. 



" ' Dear Nature is the kindliest' 



"By nature I mean plants, flowers, and flowerless 

 mosses. I am still looking after and prying into these 

 things. I think myself blest if I can find one moss in 

 the week. By that you will understand that the pur- 

 suit of mosses is quite a new study to me. And yet 

 twenty years ago I was looking at them, and picking 



18* 



