INTRODUCTION. 3 



know the sea and its flowers, you will know that she 

 has almost a mother's love and tenderness for them. 

 It may seem to you a dumb, rude, bungling sort of 

 affection, perhaps, for you will notice that she often 

 leaves some delicate and charming flowers, far up on 

 the hot sand or stones of the beach, all careless if 

 they live or die. But you will also see that she is sure 

 to come back to them again by and by. But, in the 

 sea, where they live and grow, they have her constant 

 offices of care and nurture. These most fragile fronded 

 plants, whose silky branches are as fine as the thinnest 

 cobweb, are handled and tended so gently, that not a 

 fibre is broken or a cell misplaced in the midst of 

 pounding waves, which, with a single blow would crush 

 an iron ship to atoms. The boisterous sea is their 

 home, and though it may seem rough and rude to 

 us, it is never ungentle to them. 



If you come to know these plants, the beauty, deli- 

 cacy, and grace of them, and their names, habits, and 

 history, I am sure the sea will have an added charm 

 for you. From every shore you visit you will carry 

 away your hands full of them. And these garlands, in 

 after years, will not only minister to your love of the 

 beautiful, but they will also recall the blessed hours 

 spent by the sea, and repeat in your heart again the 

 joy of its mighty presence. 



