36 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



may do well to meditate on the order that exists throughout 

 creation; on the wondrous combination of undeveloped 

 causes, which renders one fern scarce, another common, 

 which restricts the wind from scattering, or the soil from 

 cherishing, such species as may not thrive beyond their 

 allotted precincts. 



My brother, on the contrary, is a citizen of the vegetable 

 world. Old Gerard wrote concerning him, in ancient days, 

 that "he growethe plentifully upon old stone walls and 

 rockes in dark and shadowie places throughout England ; 

 especially upon stone walls by Bristowe, as you go by St. 

 Vincent's rocks, as likewise about Bathe, "Wells, and Salis- 

 bury, where I have seen great plenty thereof." Newman, 

 in later times, says that few places are without that graceful 

 fern. He found a colony growing in such profusion on a 

 bridge in the valley of the Wye, near Bualt, as to form a con- 

 tinuous covering of green, beautiful to the eye and seeming 

 to invite the pedestrian to sit down awhile on the old bridge, 

 and consider what lessons of wisdom and deep skill, and 



