THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL 
155 
It is a matter of regret that many who pass their lives 
.among the scenes of nature should so little observe the 
interesting objects which are constantly around them. 
Such persons speak of the monotony of a country life ; 
for they do not see or hear any of those things which 
delight the observer, and present a constant fund of 
amusement. They who mark well the habits of animals, 
birds, and plants, may find a sure data on which to cal- 
culate the coming weather. Observe only the merry robin. 
On a summer evening he greets us from the garden pal- 
ings or the orchard tree as blithely as possible, and then 
we may be sure that the fine weather will last; but some- 
times even when the air is pleasant, and seems dry to our 
less acute sensibilities, poor robin looks sad and drooping, 
and then the rain is coming. 
Like the robin, many plants possess so acute a sensi- 
bility to atmospheric influences, that they feel moisture in 
the air long before it is discernible by us. Thus, when a 
storm is approaching, several species of anemone fold up 
their blossoms, the almond-scented flowers of the wild 
pink convolvulus wind themselves together, the awns of 
the wild oat, and the sweet-scented vernal grass of our 
meadow, stand in an erect position, and the clover leaves 
are drawn closely up. 
Naturalists cannot altogether discover v/hj moisture 
should affect some plants and not others; but the regular 
changes of these natural barometers seem a providential 
arrangement for the need of those plants in which they 
occur. We may infer this fromi seeing the different posi- 
tions of several flowers, according to their circumstances. 
Thus the poppy, when in bud, hangs down its stem, and 
by this means the petals are preserved from rain and 
winds; but when it is fully expanded and stronger, and 
the sun’s rays are necessary for its perfection, it spreads 
open to the full light of day. The violet, again, while 
its seed is forming, shades the capsule by its purple 
corolla; but when the seeds are ripe, and it is requisite 
that they spring to some distance from their capsules, then 
the flower rises up with the cup for its support, and throws 
out its seed. Adaptations of this kind are frequent and 
striking in the vegetable kingdom. Thus, a common spe- 
cies of grass has a bulbous root when in dry situations. 
