GARDENS OF THE SEA 



181 



"In the wine-dark depths of the crystal, the gardens of 

 Nereus 

 Coral and sea fan and tangle, the blooms and the 



palms of the ocean, 

 Stand in meadows and forests unchanging, imfading 

 from decade to decade.'' 



For thousands upon thousands of miles un- 

 der the surface, along every island and conti- 

 nent, stretch these wondrous growths of the 

 sea. They were not made for us, they flourish 

 where human eyes never see them, and many 

 of them shrink when human hands touch them ; 

 but neither their life nor their beauty is in 

 vain. Form and color were not cast in sensu- 

 ous moulds especially to gratify the assthetic 

 taste of the human. They are, indeed, merely 

 the outer manifestation of completeness, of fit- 

 ness to an end; and it may be that plants were 

 garbed with beauty to please a sub-conscious 

 feeling of their own. We deny it. But it may 

 be true, nevertheless. 



Not everywhere in the sea do these gardens 

 grow. It is assumed (perhaps erroneously) 

 that the great depths are barren and that plant 

 life goes out with the light of the sun. Certain 

 it is that the bulk of the sea weeds — several 

 thousand species — grow along shore in fifteen 

 or twenty fathoms of water where the tempera- 



Extent of 

 the sea 

 gardens. 



Feeling 

 in plants. 



Groti'tlis 

 along shore. 



