... The effect is heightened by the
contrast of the coal-black colour of these vegetables with the light
groundwork of the rock to which they are attached"--for you must not forget
that it is upon the roof of the mine that the impressions of the plants
which have been turned into coal are found, not upon the coal itself,
though even there they may be discovered by a microscope.
And now leaving the mosses and lichens, ferns and mushrooms, we will turn
to the "herb yielding seed," and speak of the great family of grasses; and
to begin with I will quote for you two verses which were brought to me by
the children when I had asked for texts about grass.
This is one: "If God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and
to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of
little faith?"
And the other is: "The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth
away: but the word of the Lord endureth for ever."
When we were speaking about the former of these verses, I told them
that by "the grass of the field" we must understand not only grass, but
the wild flowers which grow upon the green slopes of Palestine in the
spring-time, when God
"Lets His own love-whispers creep
Over hills and craggies steep."
They bloom but for a short time--from February to April; for in May a
burning wind from the desert sweeps over the flowery meadows, and in one
short day the grass has withered and its flower has faded.
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