cially in the coal measures,
these petrified ferns are very numerous. Show this to the class and get
them all interested in it.

If you cannot get a specimen to use, you can find a picture in the
encyclopedia or geology, or you can tell the pupils how in some places
it is possible to pick up from among the rocks on the surface of the
ground oblong pieces perhaps a half inch thick, in which, when they are
split open, you can see the impression of a fern, every vein showing
plainly and looking as clear in the dull gray as it showed when alive in
its green dress.

Tell the story of the fern something after this fashion:

"Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, so many years, in fact, that none
of us can tell how many, somewhere in a valley, there grew a beautiful
little fern, green and slender. It was as tender and delicate as the
ones you can find in the woods now, and grew in just such a shady place.
When the breezes crept down under the trees they waved the fern
gracefully about so that it gently touched the tall rushes that grew
above it and cast little shadows on the moss at its feet. Now and then
a playful sunbeam darted through the crevices in the leaves and found
the fern, and at night drops of dew stole silently in and made a
glistening crown upon its head. But there were no children then to find
it. It was long, long ago, when the earth was young, and nowhere on its
broad surface was a single human child.

"Out in the silent sea fishes larger than any that can be found now were
swimming about. Across the plains of the earth animals of wonderful
shapes and enormous size stalked clumsily and found their way into
stately forests. No man ever saw growing such trees as waved their giant
branches over the earth, for then Nature made things on a grander scale
than she does now. The little fern, however, was wild and simple, and
lived in its home unnoticed and uncared for by any of the great
creatures or the mighty trees. Still it grew on modestly in its own
sweet way, spreading its fronds and becoming more beautiful every day.

"Then suddenly one day the earth heaved up its mighty rocks and threw
them about in every direction. The strong currents of the ocean broke
loose and flooded over the land. They drowned the animals, moved the
plain, tore down the haughty woods and cast the great trunks about like
straw. They broke the little fern from its slender stalk, and burying it
deep in soft moist clay, hid it safely away