100 WILD FLOWERS. 



calmer and more settled aspect ; and, at noon- 

 time, on a June day, the birds sing but little, 

 and few sounds are heard in the wood, save 

 the humming of that busy little chemist, the 

 bee, wliich is distiUing honey from the flowers. 

 And now, on the open land, we see that clear 

 trembling vapour, which the Scripture describes 

 as "the clear heat upon herbs," and which 

 quivers and dances in the sunshine till the eye 

 aches with gazing upon it. 



There is no month in the year in which the 

 early morning and evening are more delightful 

 than in this. It is in June that we see the 

 appropriateness of the beautiful simile of the 

 psalmist, when he spoke of the " Hope of 

 Israel:" "He shall be as the light of the morn- 

 ing, when the sun riseth, even a morning v/ithout 

 clouds ; as the tender grass springing out of the 

 earth by clear shining after rain." * " He shall 

 come down like rain upon the mown grass ; as 

 showers that water the earth. "f 



Every part of a rural landscape in June is 

 profuse in leaves and flowers. Even the sur- 

 face of the stream is covered over with the 

 green leaves of various plants. The white 

 crowfoot still adorns the silver current ; the 

 duckweeds, (Jemna,) which consist of thick and 

 succulent green pieces, like leaves — called by 

 botanists fronds — and of threads which de- 

 scend from them, and hang floating in the 

 water, form a thick herbage on the stagnant 

 pool. The ducks and waterfowl, as they glide 

 among it, gather plentiful meals from its juicy 



* 2 Sam. xyiii. 4. t Psa. Ixxii. 6. 



