ON THE MANUSCRIPTS OF GOD 



asparagus and the broad, coarse-fibered leaf 

 of the common pie plant, or the palm, what 

 a bewildering diversity of marvels does 

 nature display when the folded leaf is 

 woo'd from out the bud! Considering this 

 diversity in the gowning of plants, shrubs, 

 and trees, one perceives that women "favor" 

 nature far more than do their brothers, who 

 use only a limited range of goods and cuts 

 in their raiment. Yet women, in the myriad 

 of fabrics and models which they adopt, 

 from the gauziest of diaphanous weaves, 

 through every thinkable weight and shade of 

 cotton, wool, silk, satin, and velvet, cannot 

 surpass the cuts and colorings seons ago 

 conceived by nature for the exquisite robing 

 of plants and trees. 



Ah me ! what an art school would that have 

 been for any student who could have been 

 present in the great open studio of nature, 

 when the leaves of plants and petals of 

 flowers were being designed, and the secret 

 life-law of their unfolding forever imparted 

 to them! Who would not fain have heard 

 the secret edict, with its close-sealed reasons, 



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