Flowerless plants; ferns, mushrooms, mosses, lichens, and seaweeds

NATURE'S TEACHINGS
the light and send up green leaves borne upon
slender stems. It is because the ferns are so much
like flowering plants that we are going to read about
them first.
As we go on with our story you will learn many
things about these plants. But reading is not seeing,
and Mother Nature's invitation is, "Come and
see."
You can learn more from the plants themselves
"under the open sky" than you can from books.
Then go into the woods and fields when you can.
But do not wait to do that. Use your eyes wherever
you are. In the country the ferns are growing along
the roadside. Mosses, lichens, and toadstools, or
mushrooms, are almost at your feet as you walk about.
Even in the city streets we may see these. You may
find moss upon the walks, on the cellar wall, and in the
neighboring patches of short grass. Do not pass these
by if you would like to know what they can teach
you.
Do you remember the story of Fawn-footed Nannie
and what she saw and heard? Suppose that you try
to make your ears and eyes like hers.
f
" ' Fawn-footed Nannie, where have you been?'
'Chasing the sunbeams into the glen,
Plunging thro' silver lakes after the moon,
Tracking o'er meadows the footsteps of June.'
11