I Scarcely
Know How To Trace My Steps In The Botanical Career; They Appear To
Me Now Like Unto A Dream:
But thee mayest rely on what I shall
relate, though I know that some of our friends have laughed at it."
I am not one of those people, Mr. Bertram, who aim at finding out
the ridiculous in what is sincerely and honestly averred.
"Well,
then, I'll tell thee: One day I was very busy in holding my plough
(for thee seest that I am but a ploughman) and being weary I ran
under the shade of a tree to repose myself. I cast my eyes on a
daisy, I plucked it mechanically and viewed it with more curiosity
than common country farmers are wont to do; and observed therein
very many distinct parts, some perpendicular, some horizontal. What
a shame, said my mind, or something that inspired my mind, that thee
shouldest have employed so many years in tilling the earth and
destroying so many flowers and plants, without being acquainted with
their structures and their uses! This seeming inspiration suddenly
awakened my curiosity, for these were not thoughts to which I had
been accustomed. I returned to my team, but this new desire did not
quit my mind; I mentioned it to my wife, who greatly discouraged me
from prosecuting my new scheme, as she called it; I was not opulent
enough, she said, to dedicate much of my time to studies and labours
which might rob me of that portion of it which is the only wealth of
the American farmer.
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