The Young Lady's Counsellor by Daniel Wise

CHAPTEIC n.
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE
UNSEALED.
PON the loftiest and most rugged
peaks of the
Alps, a species
of fir-tree is said to flourish
among rocks
whose almost utter
destitution of soil
refuses support
if to plant or flower. Yet there this
pine-tree grows, defying the barren
soil and the " howling tempests,"
" Till its height ai 1 frame
Are worthy of the mountains from whose blocks
Of bleak gray granite into life it came,
And grew a giant tree."
Whence is the life of this gigantic tree supported ?
The scanty soil, in which its straggling roots scarcely
find a covering, is obviously insufficient. Is it, then
self-supported ? Does its nutriment arise from itself
alone? Nay, for we can hardly conceive how a