The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1864-02-18
Sunday aeaaing.
raik of the Lichems o" the
tU Gsock.

as you locked upward. Inc rock
was even on its face and was full
perpendicular. On its surface
were four kinds oflichcn growing
from that whose leaf was very
small, to the last which was quito
coarse and large: We sometimes
&c. such lichcn on an old icnc an
old tree, or an old house. The face
of the huge rockwas almost covered
with it. As | sat down in the shad'
ow of the mountain, waiting for
my friend, gazcd at tho lichcn,
and began to wonder in my mind
what it was created for, and Ot
what use il could be, when lsecmcd
to hear small crispy voice far NJ
the rock, calling out;
smother, how old am J "
"Why, my child, you have just
began olive. You are only eighty
years old yet Z"
"And how old are you ~
call myself young, for am only
five hundred and twenty years
old" ....
now listened with all my ears,
| for | knew it was the lichen talk
ing among themselves. feltsdrc
they would say more, and | took
out my pencil to put down what
they wol Id cay. Pretty soon ]
heard the little voice say;
"Molher, amt you doscour-
aged I"
discouraged ! at what pray Z"
"At your size. Five hundred
and twenty years old, and how
very small you are "
"Not so small, either! ! cover
six inches square already, while
there is my grandmother, almost
eleven hundred years old, and she
covers only five inches, even now.
Very few ~ the lichen family, who
have worked harder, or accom-.
plishcd more than | have, though
| say it myself"
"Well, mother, of what use is il
to cling to this great rock, and
hang here summer and winter. amid
st rms and cold, and the winds
beating upon usl Here | have
clung and been trying to gnaw in
to this rock for eighty years, anC
have not yet got my roots in hal
an inch. What's the usel W,
might as well die and drop off
Nobody would miss us or care
, What do we live for T.
"To raise wheat 2"
"taise wheat Pray, mother
what do you mean 7 We lcher
away MP here on this cold rock
} raise wheat! II that amt funny!
"Iisten, my child. This hugs
mountain is all solid rock. If i
was all pounded up fine it woulC
make soil u on which men woulC
raise wheat. But it is now yer,
hard, and there is nothing to pount
it and turn it into powder. AnC
50 God has created us, the lichen
to have cur home here, to cling tc
It, gnaw It, and with kind OF aci
we have to crumble aud dissolve It
Don't you remember that the very
last year you rolled down two lit
tie grains of the rock ! Well
ever grain we make fall down
and the brook carries il into tn,
river, and raises it up, and as il
overtlows its banks, drops it JUS
where the old soil is worn out and
the wheat needs new. The Nil,
thus carries down little particles
il, m the mountains and makes
Egypt so fruitful"
so, mother, how often can
gnaw off rock enough to raise
! kernal OF wheatp rs
( 80, what slow work ! Whel
} will what you dig out this yea
raise wheat )
Perhaps five hundred year
hcnce.--God sees that there will
! be old men aud little children upol
I the earth then, and they will wan
: bread, and so he has created u
and us here 10 prepare soil, an,
: get his ro k ready to raise wheat
Thus he goes before, and provide
, and makes even the lichcn useful
, and il we do our duty, his smil
. will cheer us, anl though we ca
do but little, that little will d
good to somebody.
Il The lichen stopped talking, bu
. did not stop thinking, Whs
: would my young reader hav
Thought, had he been thercl -Ro,
John Todd.
a.