In a valley, centuries ago, Grew a little fern-leaf, green and slender, Veining delicate and fibres tender, Waving when the wind crept down so low. Rushes tall and moss and grass grew round it, Playful sunbeams darted in and found it, Drops of dew stole down by night and crowned it; But no foot of man e’er trod that way; Earth was young and keeping holiday. Monster fishes swam the silent main, Stately forests waved their giant branches, Mountains hurled their snowy avalanches, Mammoth creatures stalked across the plain; Nature revelled in grand mysteries, But the little fern was not of these, Did not number with the hills and trees, Only grew and waved its wild, sweet way. No one came to note it, day by day. Earth one time put on a frolic mood, Heaved the rocks and changed the mighty motion Of the deep, strong currents of the ocean; Moved the plain and shook the haughty wood; Crushed the little fern in soft, moist clay— Covered it, and hid it safe away. O the long, long centuries since that day! O the changes! O life’s bitter cost, Since the useless little fern was lost! Useless? Lost? There came a thoughtful man Searching for Nature’s secrets, far and deep; From a fissure in a rocky steep, He withdrew a stone, o’er which there ran Fairy pencillings, a quaint design, Leafage, veining fibres, clear and fine, And the fern’s life lay in every line! So, I think, God hides some souls away, Sweetly to surprise us, the last day. * * * * * Shortly after mention, in this chapter, of some of the descendants of the Rogerene leaders, Mr. John R. Bolles was called to join those heroes whose vindication he had so conscientiously undertaken, in the cause of justice and of truth. It remains to add to the above list of descendants some notice of this deceased writer, who not only bore the names of both of the principal Rogerene leaders, but was a direct descendant of both, his mother being a daughter of John Rogers, 3d, and his father a grandson of John Bolles. For this purpose is here presented the briefest of the several obituary notices that appeared in New London papers, being an editorial in the _Daily Telegraph_, of February 26, 1895.