CHICKWEED. 103 



grew in a small hollow among rough stones, 

 sheltered from the sun's fierce rays, and 

 played on by the fresh mountain breezes 

 as they passed. " That little flower," wrote 

 H^nry, in a letter to a friend, " made me 

 forget my sorrows : thoughts of hope and 

 peace, of gladness and security, were awak- 

 ened by it, and I went on my way re- 

 freshed." 



The remembrance of tliis anecdote arose 

 within me, when looking on the dismantled 

 walls of a once spacious dwelling, I observed 

 the wonderful construction of the common 

 chickweed, which had rooted itself iii the 

 interstices. There its tiny blossoms un- 

 folded among tufts of lichens and small 

 ferns, and presented a continued repast to 

 such wayfaring birds as passed that way in 

 their flight to the spacious apple orchards 

 that covered the slope of the green valley. 

 There, too, its native character remained 



