“What means this persistent vitality? Why were these spared 
when the brakes and osmundas were stricken down? They stay as 
if to keep up the spirits of the cold-blooded frogs which have not yet 
gone into the mud, that the summer may die with decent and graceful 
moderation. Is not the water of the spring improved by their pres- 
ence? They fall back and droop, here and there like the plumes of 
departing summer, of the departing year, Even in them I feel an ar- 
gument for immortality.’”—THOREAU. 
