xxi. BEAUTY FOR ASHES. 365 



treated in this manner will suddenly be transfigured 

 with the fragrant bloom. A lovely little moss, whose 

 seed-vessels, by the twisting and untwisting of their 

 stems, indicate the changes of the weather like a baro- 

 meter, grows on moors and in woods in spots where 

 fires have been; and it covers with its bright green 

 verdure the sites of buildings, marking with its soft 

 delicate cushions where the hearthstone had been. 

 From its fondness for growing in such places, it is 

 known in France by the familiar name of La Char- 

 bonniere. In similar spots is found the common morel, 

 a crisp white fungus, everywhere esteemed as a valuable 

 and delightful article of food; its presence being an 

 unfailing evidence of the former existence of fire in the 

 place. It grows in the greatest profusion in the woods 

 where charcoal has been made. Thus out of the eater 

 in the most literal manner comes forth meat. After 

 the great London fire, a species of mustard grew up 

 on every side, covering with its yellow blossoms the 

 charred ruins and the recently exposed soil strewn with 

 ashes ; and, as if to show some curious affinity between 

 the conflagration of cities and the mustard tribe, after 

 the more recent burning of Moscow, another species of 

 the same family made its appearance among the ruins, 

 and is still to be met with in the neighbourhood of that 

 city. When an American forest is burnt down, a dif- 

 ferent class of trees usually spring up on the spot ; and 

 by this rotation of crops nature maintains the fertility 

 of the soil, and brings beauty out of ashes. 



Passing from the applications of the principle in the 



