A TUFT OF MOSS. 



93 



world, out of whose chaos they have barely emerged 

 The low vitality of these humble organisms is scarce 

 able to overcome the gravitation of the inert mineral 

 world. But the moss strikes the key-note of a new 

 ascending series that overcomes the earthward force, 

 and lifts its fairy domes into the sky. It is the first 

 thing endowed with life that rises above the rock and 

 aspires towards the source of the sunshine and the dew 

 by which it is sustained. It was the first green leaf 

 which the Spirit that brooded like a dove over the 

 primeval waters brought out of the universal chaos that 

 was without form and void. In it we see for the first 

 time the marvellous ministry of the green leaf, purifying 

 the foul air by fixing it into shapes of beauty, and 

 creating living matter out of dead earth, and thus pre- 

 paring a world in which higher life could breathe, and 

 finally feel and think. In it we have for the first time 

 the distinctions of root, stem, foliage, flower, fruit and 

 seed so familiar to us, which enter into our most simple 

 conceptions of plant-form. The lichen shares the eter- 

 nal passivity and sameness of the rocks, but the moss 

 exhibits for the first time in the history of living things 

 the pathetic mystery of change, swaying perpetually 

 between birth and dissolution. It feels the sweet influ- 

 ences of the Pleiades, and puts on a fresh tint of living 

 green with the tassels of the larch ; it unfolds its little 

 forest of seed-vessels under the long lingering light of 

 the April afternoons ; and its leaves are touched with 

 the hectic hues of the autumn decay. The waves of 

 revival and decadence ebb and flow in its hidden cells ; 



