It is pleasant to note all plants, from the rush to the spreading cedar,
From the giant king of palms, to the lichen that staineth its stem;
To watch the workings of instinct, that grosser reason of brutes,—
The river horse browsing in the jungle, the plover screaming on the moor,
The cayman basking on a mud-bank, and the walrus anchored to an iceberg,
The dog at his master's feet, and the milch-kine lowing in the meadow;
To trace the consummate skill that hath modelled the anatomy of insects,
Small fowls that sun their wings on the petals of wild flowers;
To learn a use in the beetle, and more than a beauty in the butterfly;
To recognize affections in a moth, and look with admiration on a spider.