These strange propensities are not to be construed as instances of wickedness or cruelty in plants. Our profound ignorance of the causes and motives of action of all created things should teach us to humble ourselves before the great Creator, whose ways are wondrous and past finding out. "Certainly we do know that all unnecessary sufferings, sufferings that have no salutary tendency, or subserviency to the happiness or welfare of created beings, can find no place under the government of an infinitely perfect and gracious Ruler."
It was noticed by Linnæus, that the flowers of the barberry are remarkably sensitive. If the filament of the flower be touched by any substance, as the blade of a penknife or a bit of stick, it instantly falls upon the stigma with apparent violence.
The common locust is remarkably sensitive of light. In the glory of a noonday sun, its foliage appears enlivened. The little leaflets that form its wing-like leaves look upward, as if they were anxious to drink in the light and warmth of his reviving rays. At night, or in cloudy weather, they all hang their heads as if asleep. The whole tree wears altogether a different aspect at eventide. I very well remember the first time that I observed this sensitiveness in some young trees of this genus. I thought they had met with some accident, and were dying. The next morning, however, I was pleasingly surprised to find that they all looked up to the sun as joyously as ever. Like some young animal, they appeared heartily refreshed by a good night's sleep. A little girl who had observed this phenomenon in a locust that grew before her nursery window, upon being required to go to bed a little earlier than usual, replied with much acuteness, "O mother! it is not yet time to go to bed: the locust-tree has not yet begun to say its prayers."
Some of our most common plants are remarkable in the choice of their localities. The hemlock loves to luxuriate in the ruin and desolation of cities. Wherever there is a deserted mansion, with its garden in ruins, there is sure to be found the fatal hemlock, as if the very ground were accursed, and brought forth poisonous plants. The ghostly mullein stalks over worn-out and neglected pastures, the emblem of sterility. The black nightshade and the dubious
