A GARDEN IN VENICE 



fell a seed or root, torn from in or under water, 

 soon to grow into the many plants we call sea- 

 weed ; a salt forest to give food and shelter to 

 millions of animalculas that gave food and sport 

 to thousands of small fishes. 



As these seaweeds ripened, dried, and sank, 

 their remains gave root-hold and sustenance to 

 others, fending off the canal waters and adding 

 each its mite to the ever rising bank ; until, in 

 countless generations of plant life, the plants, 

 little knowing that they were beneficial workers, 

 prepared the way for other plants and wrought 

 their own extinction. 



Then the fresh torrents from mainland gave 

 their aid. Seeds from the shore, roots from dry 

 earth, were borne seawards on the flood and left 

 stranded. Some, when life was still in them, to take 

 root and grow, and so to thicken, strengthen, and 

 protect the bank that saved them. Their work done, 

 to give place, as happily seems the rule on earth, 

 and must be in the universe, for something better. 



So the dry land that was to be our garden was 

 slowly made, and surely fitted for life on a higher 

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