192 PEARLS AND PEBBLES. 



Nature follows her own laws without heed to the 

 hand that sows the seed. The latter will right itself: 

 Place a bulb in the earth with the crown downward or 

 sideways, and it will come up in spite of the awkward 

 position it was planted in. 



Here are a number of onions or of potatoes left lying 

 in all manner of ways ; the shoots, you will riotice, take 

 the upward direction attracted to the light. The innate 

 power in the living vegetable is to ascend to the light, 

 while the root descends, loving darkness rather than 

 light. 



Thus the inanimate things of creation silently obey 

 the will of the Creator, fulfilling the work which He 

 has ordained to His praise and glory. He hath given, 

 them laws which shall' not be broken. 



A FLORAL MYSTERY. 



An interesting account of the peculiar properties of 

 some aquatic plants, as illustrative of what we have 

 called vegetable instinct, may not be out of place here,, 

 and will perhaps be new to some of my youthful readers. 



Michelet, the delightful old French naturalist, give& 

 the following history of the Vallisneria, better known 

 by its common name of Tape or Eel Grass, an aquatic 

 plant very frequently seen in slow-flowing lakes and 

 ponds, covering the surface during the latter part of the 

 summer with its slender light green leaves and white 

 floating flowers : 



