PLANTS AS COMPANIONS. 11 



circumstances who does not feel the blessed influence of 

 some rescued bit of summer, some "Picciola" sheltered 

 in the home. It may be only a pot of Ivy, or a feeble 

 " Gilly-flower," but it is something green and growing 

 in the midst of wintry bleakn-ess and desolation. It 

 bears a message from the once verdant fields, speaking of 

 life and sunshine, of nature and God. It may do a work 

 not unlike that of the prison plant. And many there are 

 who need its service nearly as much as the Count of 

 Charney ; not perhaps to furnish employment, or to 

 correct error, but to soothe, cheer, and refine by the in- 

 fluence of a most gentle companionship. 



But I hear you ask : "Why did not he get such ser- 

 vice before, while in possession of his yast estates ? " 



That question goes deeper into the mysteries of human 

 life than perhaps you are aware. Who can say that it 

 was not an overruling Providence that brought the proud 

 atheist to bend before the humble plant, and there sur- 

 render his unbelief ? Only in the confinement and sol- 

 itude of the prison would he be likely to notice it at all, 

 or be in any proper condition to accept its lessons. It 

 was by the very stress of circumstances that teacher and 

 learner came so near together that instruction could be 

 given and received. 



And is it not so to some extent with you ? Though 

 you are not the victims of such misanthropy and atheism, 

 yet, like the Count, you may learn many wonderful 

 things from one little plant, and are most likely to do so 

 in winter time, with the plant for a companion. 



" If our plants would only grow like his," do you say ? 



Well, yes, that is important. Poor companions, they 

 that never grow at all in any sense. But you have a 

 much better place for yours than the crevice of an ex- 

 posed pavement, and need not be discouraged. 



" But how did he succeed so well ? " 



I think he would tell you, if he could, that it was because 



