236 THE MICROSCOPE AND ITS LESSONS. 



devoted to the natural history of ferns, having written 

 and published much about them, a copy of one of whose 

 books the lady brought with her. The following is some- 

 thing like the conversation which took place between us. 



" So you know something about ferns ? " 



" I should," was the reply ; " for many years of my 

 life have been spent, in connection with my late husband, 

 in their study." 



" And in flowers too ? " I said. 



" Yes," she replied, " in flowers too." 



" Let me show you some of my ferns and flowers, then, 

 as it is always well to begin with what we already know 

 something about." 



I then asked if she knew much of the structure of ferns 

 or flowers, and found her knowledge was confined to 

 their species, genera, and growth. Her husband had used 

 a " magnifying glass " in their examination, she said, but 

 she had never beheld their structure through such a 

 microscope as she now saw ; nor did she wish to, as her 

 sentimental fondness for both ferns and flowers did not 

 approve of their being " torn to pieces." The dear old lady 

 had a face beaming with intelligence and goodness, and as 

 the face is the index of the mind, looking into it, I said 



" I think I could make a convert of you, if you will 

 allow me to try." 



" No, thank you," she emphatically replied ; " you 

 could not. I'm too old to learn, and don't wish to begin 

 again." 



After a little persuasion, with the conviction that I 

 had the right kind of material to work upon, I succeeded 

 in tempting her to look down the magic tube. I had 

 separated the stamen and pistil of one of the Japanese 

 anemones then so beautifully blooming in our garden. 

 She looked, first at it, and then at me, and then gently 



