BRAMBLES AND BAY LEAVES. 
THE 
STORY OF A BLADE OF GRASS. 
“ What a desert-like spot would this life of ours be, 
If, amid sands of sin, no glimpse could we see 
Of some green-knotted garland of grass,— 
Some oasis bright, a glad hope to impart, 
That the sun of the sky, and the sun of the heart, 
Still abide in the road we must pass.” 
Johnson Barker. 
4£ The golden-belted bees humra’d in the air, 
The tall silk-grasses bent and waved along.” 
Thomas Miller. 
“ We cannot pass a blade of grass unheeded by the way, 
For it whispers to our thoughts, and we its silent voice obey.” 
J. E. Carpenter. 
It lias become the fashion to study “ Common Things,” 
and extort biographies from insects, birds, and flowers. 
I shall conform to fashion in twining a garland of 
literary “ Brambles and Bay Leaves,” and shall escape 
censure as to the choice of the subject for this paper, 
at least, because a blade of grass is the commonest 
of common things, and has as good and copious a bio¬ 
graphy as the rarest curiosity that has ever been placed 
B 
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