OUR NATIVE GRASSES. 215 



with the kindly words, spoken in her own soft tongue, 

 " Present for you." 



These little offerings are very sweet to me. They are 

 genuine tokens. of simple gratitude and affection, and for 

 which I never offer any payment, knowing it would be 

 at once rejected, for the rice is a free-will gift and there- 

 fore priceless. 



The deer, too, feed upon the rice beds. The doe leads 

 down her fawn to the lake, and the sweet, tender grassy 

 leaves of the young rice are eaten eagerly by the gentle 

 creature. In the season countless wild-fowl come from 

 the colder regions of the north, and the sportsmen know 

 their favorite feeding beds among the rice fields of the 

 inland lakes. 



There is a beautiful chapter on " Grass " in the Rev. 

 Hugh McMillan's charming volume, " Bible Teaching in 

 Nature," which I wish everyone could read. I would 

 gladly transcribe much of it, but would not thus rob my 

 readers of the pleasure of enjoying the book for them- 

 selves. A few words only I must quote here : 



" Grass forms the beautiful and appropriate covering 

 of the grave. As it was the earth's first blessing, so it 

 is her last legacy to man. The body that it fed when 

 living, it reverently covers when dead with a garment 

 richer than the robe of a king. 



"When all other kindness in food and clothing and 

 emblematical teaching is over, it takes up its Rizpah 

 watch beside the tomb, and forsakes not what all else 



