212 
NATURE STUDY. 
some force will be required to detach them from it. The 
aspect of the plant in summer is so changed that a person 
unacquainted with it would not suspect it to be of the 
same species as that he saw in the spring. 
We, the worshippers, are wondering what may be the 
meaning of this strange behavior and speculating as to 
what may be its significance in the schemes of evolution 
and natural selection, when our attention is arrested by a 
faint, far-away voice, like a telephonic message from the 
planet Mars. While we listen intently, the spirit of the 
whispers to us 
THE LEGEND OF SAINT VIOLA. 
“ I was the favorite flower of the holy maid Viola, who, 
long, long ago, lived in a northern country. Every spring, 
when the sun began to melt the snow in the bare woods, 
the maid would come to seek me when first I peeped out 
from under the brown leaves, and when she had found me 
she would thank God for giving me beauty and for bestow¬ 
ing upon her the power of loving Him and all the beauti¬ 
ful things he had made. Now Viola had devoted herself 
to the service of Christ, and had faith that she could com¬ 
plete the conversion of her people to His religion, for the 
king and nobles were worshippers of the old gods. And 
first of all she desired to found a monastery. But she was 
of humble origin and possessed no land. So she besought 
the king for a tract of land suited to her purpose. Then 
the king laughed her to scorn, saying, ‘ You shall have 
just so much land as you can cover with your silken man¬ 
tle, and no more ; ” meaning thereby only enough in which 
to dig her grave. Then the maid prayed to God for help ; 
and when she had done praying she cast her mantle upon 
the ground. Then the king’s servants, with jest and 
taunt, began to spread it out, when, lo ! fold after fold 
opened until rood on rood of ground was covered with the 
