190 FIRST FORMS OF VEGETATION. 
rible massacre, are buried; and over their slate 
grave-stones, weather-worn and battered, grey 
and yellow lichens spread their rich halo of living 
glory, obliterating heraldic symbol and pathetic 
tale, and subduing the tragic memories of a 
stormy period to the profound repose of sea and 
mountain around. The contrast between the 
lichens on the tomb and the story of bloodshed 
which they veiled with hushed softness, could not 
have been more striking. How eloquently did 
these meek creatures speak of the peace and per- 
manence of nature which succeed all the works and 
passions of man! Gently and slowly they were 
bringing back with their ‘rounded bosses of furred 
and beaming green, their starred divisions of rubied 
bloom, and their traceries of intricate silver, sub- 
dued and pensive and framed for simplest, sweetest 
offices of grace,’ the last work of man, as man him- 
self was being brought back into the bosom of the 
Universal Mother. The woods, the blossoms, the 
gift-bearing grasses, as Ruskin beautifully says, had 
done their part for a time ; but these lichens are 
doing service for ever. Trees for the builder’s 
yard, flowers for the bride’s chamber, corn for the 
granary, lichens for the grave. 
