THE THISTLE. 331 



utmost, only a few inches below the surface, and 

 the whole plant disappears or degenerates into use- 

 lessness, if unfostered for a few years ; while the 

 roots of the " rugged thistle/' perennial amidst ruin, 

 penetrate far deeper than those of many a stately 

 forest tree. Thus it is that the plants which are 

 especially named as forming a part of the " curse " 

 of the ground, consequent on the first sin of man, 

 are ever those which take root most effectually, and 

 are the most difficult to eradicate. But so also is it, 

 that these very plants are most usually the indica- 

 tors of the richest and most fertile soil. Whence 

 the saying attributed to the blind man in choosing 

 a piece of land : " take me/' or " tie me to a thistle/' 

 They may, therefore, be looked upon not merely as 

 cruel weeds, but as guides, and, as it were, induce- 

 ment for man to struggle against the natural world, 

 to overcome it, and make it his own, by that labour 

 which God, in His mercy, has made at once the 

 punishment and the greatest blessing of mankind. 

 Thus, in the physical as in the moral world, where 

 difficulties lie thickest, there only are the best fruits 

 of conquest to be won ! 



" Cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow 

 shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life ; thorns 

 and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee." And 

 in tracing out the literal fulfilment of this sentence 

 we cannot but be impressed by the fact that, how- 

 ever persistent may be the thistle in a land so long 

 tilled as our own island, it is not there that we 

 must look for an exemplification of what the plant, 

 in its unsubdued state of mighty strength, be- 



