I do not find it very difficult to believe, with SENTIMENT 



f , . u-i u .u i INTHE GARDEN 



one or the ancient philosophers, that plants 



have mind, pain, pleasure, desire, even knowl- 

 edge. 



This much is true, both the poet and the 



scientist compel deeper reflection, and give to 



the things which appeal to my senses a more 



spiritual quality. I am sure that no sane man 



can touch such questions as this without a 



sense of awe. In the presence of the tiniest 



blade of grass or the simplest flower we face the 



great mystery, the mystery of life; and all life, 



I must believe, is spiritual in its essence. The 



plant is simply a lower form of the same divine 



energy which is in man, and is groping, as 



Emerson says, "upward towards conscious- 

 ness. " Surely there is occasion for wonder, and 



something of the reverence which Tennyson 



felt before the little flower in the crannied 



wall- 

 Little flower but if I could understand 



What you are, root and all, and all in all, 

 I should know what God and man is. 



[59] 



