198 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 
The manufactured papyrus was called ‘‘ papu” 
by the Egyptians, and hence our word paper. 
Herodotus calls it byblis, whence the Greek 
‘‘book” and our ‘‘ bible.” 
So sedges, in their humble way, have helped to 
pass the treasures of thought and learning onward 
through the ages, and as the life, mental and 
spiritual, is more than meat, they have not been 
so far behind the grasses in real serviceableness 
after all. 
