"
"Very true," said Ellen, suddenly recollecting the necessity of
accounting for her own appearance abroad at that unseasonable hour; "I
know many who think the earth has a pleasanter look in the night, than
when seen by the brightest sunshine."
"Ah! Their organs of sight must be too convex! But the man who wishes
to study the active habits of the feline race, or the variety,
albinos, must, indeed, be stirring at this hour. I dare say, there are
men who prefer even looking at objects by twilight, for the simple
reason, that they see better at that time of the day."
"And is this the cause why you are so much abroad in the night?"
"I am abroad at night, my good girl, because the earth in its diurnal
revolutions leaves the light of the sun but half the time on any given
meridian, and because what I have to do cannot be performed in twelve
or fifteen consecutive hours. Now have I been off two days from the
family, in search of a plant, that is known to exist on the
tributaries of La Platte, without seeing even a blade of grass that is
not already enumerated and classed.
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