Emblem of the Resurrection

A vase closely sealed was found in a mummy-pit in Egypt by the English traveller Wilkinson, who sent it to the British Museum. The librarian, having unfortunately broken it, discovered in it a few peas, old, wrinkled, and as hard as a stone. The peas were planted carefully under a glass, on the 4th of June, 1844; and at the end of thirty days these seeds were seen to spring up into new life. They had been buried, probably, about three thousand years ago, perhaps in the time of Moses, and had slept all that time, apparently dead, yet still living, in the dust of the tomb. —Gaussen