A MIDNIGHT RAMBLE. 4 ! 



the bright consummation, for it holds the crown-jewel of all this 

 brilliant realm. 



Every one knows the " jewel - weed," the bright reveller of 

 the brook-side copse, with its golden "ear-drops" and luxuriant 

 spray, murmurous haunt of humming-birds and humble-bees, the 

 Impatiens, or noli-me-tangere of the French, the "touch-me-not" or 

 "snapweed" of the loitering school-boy, with its touchy, jumping 

 pods, popping even at a hard look or breath. 



There has been some speculation concerning the more com- 

 mon christening of this pretty plant, the "jewel" not having yet 

 disclosed itself, except in the " trinket-like blossom " and " silvery 

 immersed leaf." But these unworthy conjectures may now be 

 dismissed, for the jewel is a verity, a moonstone of the first water, 

 until now in close keeping of the fairies, unless, as I half suspect, 

 some wide-awake seer like myself long ago got a glimpse of it, 

 and stood godfather at the happy christening; but if so he re- 

 ceives no credit in any botany that I have met. The night has 

 kept his secret. 



Let us lay our lantern amid the succulent stems here by the 

 brook. What a lavish display of gems! Every leaf among the 

 lush, translucent canopy, though apparently as dry as at high 

 noon, now drooping low in a listless fashion, and bordered with 

 its pendent array of pure limpid diamonds, a spectacle such as 

 Aladdin might have awakened beneath his supernal lamp, but 

 which finds few parallels in natural fields. 



The analytic eye discovers minute glands along the edge of 

 the leaf at the crenate points, and one or two on the stem, each 

 of which seems possessed of some secret power of distillation de- 

 nied to other plants. Whole beds of the Impatiens will some- 

 times be seen scintillating with their gems when little or no dew 

 is discernible elsewhere. 



The jewels first begin to show themselves at dusk, and at 

 midnight have reached their full splendor. 



There are many beautiful surprises among these dewy shad- 

 ows, but none comparable to this tearful dell where the penitent 

 Impatiens tells her beads. 



6 



