56 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



Would you know something concerning our natural 

 history? Seek such knowledge, not from books, but in 

 the places of our growth. Listen to what the winds may 

 tell you, warm sunbeams, and passing showers, for all 

 minister alike, and shed a blessing as they pass. Think 

 not that we are destined merely to embellish the solitudes 

 of nature. We have each some allotted duty to perform ; 

 some place in the creation which no other may fill up. 

 Homes are we, and storehouses, for sustaining insect life ; for 

 every insect, however humble, is assigned to some fostering 

 plant, and that insect is essential in the mighty chain of 

 being, a small link, perchance, and yet, if broken, occa- 

 sioning a chasm in creation which man, with all his boasted 

 powers, could not supply. 



Suddenly, and as if with a magic wand bringing hidden 

 things to light, Chemistry appeared, and, touching the 

 royal fern, thus spake : 



What see you, Stranger ? A group of ferns waving in 



