INTRODUCTION. 3 



up tlie hillj and try, at least, if there be not something at the top to repay us for 

 the toil. For there is a little to say even about the moss upon the wall ; and as 

 to the difficulty in the way of the study, was any g'ood work ever wrought save 

 by the might of the hand that did it ? We are not called to do great things 

 perhaps, but surely we are to do good things ; every one of us is bidden to fulfil 

 the purposes of his existence, to occupy his appointed niche in the world, to leave 

 nothing undone which he has been commanded to do. And one puriDose of 

 existence, God Himself has told us, is the searching out His works ia order to praise 

 Him better when we know them. The way to iill up our niche is to stretch 

 ourselves out on all sides of it, until we completely follow its canopy work and its 

 carvings. One thing which God has desired us to do, is, to " consider the lilies of 

 the field, how they grow." And in ''considering" mosses, though we ought to 

 do it because it is our duty, we shall find much pleasure. We shall not, probably, 

 m.ake any scientific discoveries of importance to the rest of the world ; but we shall 

 find out many curious and wonderful things, which will be discoveries of much 

 importance to ourselves. We shall employ no hard words until we fuUy understand 

 and need them. If we use a mici'oscope, we shall find the irksomeness fully repaid 

 us by all that will be revealed by it ; but for a long time we may get on only with 

 the sight which God has given to everybody for the pm-pose of beholding His 

 works. For collection we shall require no implements beyond a basket to carry 

 oui- mosses in, and for preservation an old thick book to dry them in. And if you 

 follow these pages, I hope that, by the end of the week, you will be pokiug into 

 the hedges with your friend Mr. Jones, and that when you find it you will not be 

 sorry to know the name of our tiny Phascum Subulatum, any more than on meeting 

 an acquaintance you would be sorry that he had some appellation to distinguish 

 him from other men, how little euphonious soever that appellation might be. 

 About mosses an enthusiast says, — 



The dear, delightful, little things, 

 We meet them every where ! 



And this is true, not only of mosses in general, but of particular species of the 

 family. Brave and hardy, they are chosen with the lichens to occupy the exti-eme 

 outposts of the vegetable kingdom ; but the faces of this advanced guard, wher- 

 ever they may be found, are familiar enough. One of om* English mosses grows 



