<±6 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
How keen is the enjoyment of those who can 
find— 
‘ Books in the running brooks, 
Sermons in stones, and good in everything ! ’ 
The book of Nature is indeed beautiful to those 
who can read it. But those who cannot read it all 
can read a part of it. Some of its stories are full 
of sweet simplicity. Page after page can some¬ 
times be turned, and the reader will encounter 
nothing to dismay him; nothing even to puzzle him. 
But the simple study of Nature is too frequently 
made a hard task by those who profess to teach. 
Botany is one of the most beautiful of natural 
studies, because it tells us all about the glorious 
vegetation which springs from the earth. Yet are 
there not thousands who do not understand 
botany ? To some the study is too difficult. 
Others can find no opportunities for pursuing it. 
But all would like to know something of the beau¬ 
tiful vegetable world ; something less—less formal, 
less difficult—than what is usually to be found in 
books, and something more than can be learned 
from the mute language—eloquent nevertheless in 
its muteness—of the plants themselves. Why 
