EARTIL COVERINGS 
277 
times has it led poets to prove the poverty of 
language! With the dew upon it in the early 
morning, it is the fairest, purest growth in 
all the floral world. As children we knew it, 
plucked it, and scattered its petals upon the 
ground ; but since then we have scarcely seen 
it. Grown to man’s estate, we still walk along 
that woodland road on Sunday afternoons seek- 
ing a “breath of fresh air ;” but we see little 
of anything. Our days of observation have 
passed and we have fallen upon days of reflec- 
tion. Instead of looking without, our eyes are 
turned within, and we are studying some human 
problem, perhaps some business venture, while 
walking the new Garden of the Hesperides. 
The bushes are the most varied in form and 
color of all the earth coverings, and they also 
form the densest shield against the sunlight. 
Sometimes, when they are scattered in broken 
clumps, the sunlit open spaces between them 
grow small grasses and weeds, but usually 
the hill-side bushes stand close together, the 
branches touching each other and throwing an 
almost perpetual summer shade upon the ground 
beneath. Naturally those plants only that live 
under shadow are found growing there. The 
moss clings to the rock, some thin grasses 
On the wood= 
land road. 
Growths 
under 
shadow, 
