But no foot of man e'er came that way,
Earth was young and keeping holiday.
Monster fishes swam the silent main—
Mountains hurled their snowy avalanches,
Giant forests shook their stately branches,
Mammoth creatures stalked across the plain;
Nature reveled in wild mysteries,
But the little fern was not of these,
Did not number with the hills and trees,
Only grew and waved its sweet wild way—