THE GREEN WORLD 215 



chervil stem, with the curled, bent-down leaves at 

 its top, feels its way up, insinuates itself through 

 the soil. 



Moving up could we but watch it in this travel 

 as imperceptibly as the sun moves across the sky ; 

 and behind this movement of the chervil a force of 

 will, nay, a law of will, as tremendous and immut- 

 able as that which whirls the planets round their 

 sun. 



It is an object-lesson, this plant travel up to light 

 through impediment, in the power of gentleness and 

 will hi union that perhaps has no equal. Very 

 wonderfully it illustrates what may be done against 

 hard things by quiet and persistent endeavour. Will 

 in human relations we incline to think of as some- 

 thing the very reverse of gentle or tender ; something 

 that lives in men cut out of granite or encased by 

 iron ; but, as chervil proves, will can have its habita- 

 tion in substance so frail and soft as to be bruised 

 by the light pressure of a child's finger. So indomit- 

 able will need not live in fortress of iron or stone. 



But most the chervil illustrates the virtue of gentle 

 persistence ceaseless, sleepless, but unnoticed persist- 

 ence. It does nothing by furious spurts. The spurt 

 means some waste of energy. Then follows reaction, 

 a slipping back. The will of a plant is nothing if not 

 even. It never waxes, never wanes. It has grown 

 for I cannot suppose that it started at this perfection 

 to be as sure, even, perpetual, mathematically exact 



