THE FIRST STORY--BABY PLANTS
=The author’s experience.=--When our girls, Fay and Fern, were six and
four years of age, they became interested in learning about their coming
into the world. Their mamma had told me of their puzzling questions. We
agreed that I should tell them a story of life, every six months or a
year, until they were nine or ten. Then their mamma should tell them the
last story, the story of their life.
A few days later some young men, whom we were helping through college,
and I were working among the flowers, when one of the girls made some
inquiry about the relation of birds. This naturally opened the way for
my first talk. I promised her and her sister a very interesting story at
the rest hour at noon. As ever, they were both anxious to hear a new
story. Dinner over, they followed me into the greenhouse. I gathered a
number of flowers and invited them to be seated near me while I told
them the story.
=Praise a child for asking.=--I opened the story by saying, “Mamma tells
me that you have become interested in knowing where you were before you
were born and how you got into this world. We have talked together
about your interest in this matter and we are glad that you have asked
these questions, and especially because you came first to us. For you to
ask these questions so early in life indicates that you are very bright
and intelligent. We are your natural teachers. We love you as no one
else does or can. In the future, anything you wish to know about
yourselves, come to us and we will take pleasure in telling you all that
is best for you to know.”
=Why the child should be told gradually.=--You would like to be able to
read and understand all there is in the fourth reader. There is nothing
in the fourth reader that could do you a particle of harm. There are
many things in the fourth reader that you could not understand. Papa and
mamma might read and try to explain them to you. Still, there would be
some things that we could not make plain to you, for the reason that you
are not old enough for your little minds to grasp them. You understand
that you must learn first what there is in the first reader. When you
have learned all there is in it, then you are ready for the second
reader. The mastery of the second reader prepares you for the third and
the third reader prepares you for the fourth. There are some things that
you understand to-day, that you could not understand six months ago.
This great world is full of things that you cannot understand now; but,
as you grow older and your mind grows stronger, step by step, you will
learn and understand things that you cannot understand now. There are so
many things in this world that may be known, that no one lives long
enough to learn them all. Just so, you would like to know how God brings
little children into this world. This is God’s wonderful plan. It could
not do you a bit of harm to know all about it, if you could understand
it. But you are not old enough now. Papa can tell you a beautiful story
about how God brings all the little sprigs of grass, weeds, vegetables
and trees into the world now, and in a few months I can tell you about
the mussels, oysters and fish. Then, when you are a year older, I will
tell you about the birds; later, I will tell you about the higher
animals. When you are eight or ten, mamma will tell you the last
story--God’s beautiful plan of bringing little children into the home.
=Some things right one time and wrong at another.=--You are both old
enough to know that there are some things we do that is right for us to
do under certain conditions, but would be very wrong for us to do under
other conditions. Some things would be right to do during the week, but
wrong if done on Sunday. Every few days you take an all-over bath. It is
perfectly right for you to take these baths and for your mamma to help
you. All people, who desire to live cleanly lives and enjoy good health,
take frequent all-over baths. But you have noticed that when you take
baths, other people are not invited to be present, not even papa is
present. This is because our bodies are sacred. We wear clothing that
our bodies may not be exposed to the gaze of other people.
We do not speak the name of God and Jesus in a light and frivolous way
because these names are sacred.
=Why we do not talk about the origin of life.=--One of the most delicate,
pure and sacred experiences connected with human life is God’s beautiful
plan of bringing little children into the home. It is so sacred, pure
and delicate that good people seldom speak of it, and never in a light
and foolish way. It is for this reason that you have never heard your
mamma and papa speak of it. It is right for fathers and mothers,
husbands and wives to speak to each other about this matter; also, for
grown people, when there is some good reason for doing so. It is not
wise or best for little children to talk about how children come into
the world except to their parents. We are your natural teachers and we
want you always to feel free to come to us with questions about things
of this nature. When you are older you will understand better why papa
gives you this advice.
Many men and women, boys and girls have not been carefully trained to be
good. They get angry and quarrel or fight, use bad language, break the
Sabbath, and do many other wrong things. Some appear to take pleasure in
doing wrong and in leading others to do wrong. This class of people do
not look upon God’s plan of bringing little children into the world as
being pure and sacred. They use very bad language when they try to talk
about the story of life or tell it to others. When little children hear
these people talk about the story of life, their little minds and hearts
are filled with bad words and very wicked thoughts. In this way many
little boys and girls are started wrong in life and they are sure to
have a hard and painful struggle to rid themselves of impure thoughts,
words and habits in after life.
It may not be very long until some schoolmate or someone older than you
will say, “I know something that you don’t. You would like to know it
and I will tell you, if you will not tell your papa and mamma about it.”
Now, girls, whenever someone wants to tell you something and asks you
not to tell your mamma and papa, you may be sure that it is wrong, that
it will injure you, and most likely it is false. Mamma and papa would
advise you to say to them, “We don’t want to hear anything that we
cannot talk about to mamma and papa.”
=Story of the plants.=--The story of life that papa will tell you to-day
will be about the plants, vegetables and trees, how their young come
into the world. Papa has gathered some beautiful flowers with which to
illustrate the story. This will be our first lesson in Botany. Every
part of a plant has special names. Many of the names are too difficult
for you to remember. When you get older you will learn and remember the
names. The story of life in all flowering plants begins in the flower.
=The outer parts.=--At sight, we notice that the many parts of a flower
are arranged in whorls or circles. The outer whorl is called the (1)
calix. You will notice that in some of these flowers, the calix is
highly colored, in others it looks like little green leaves and in some
of the flowers the calix is absent. You will observe that in some
flowers the calix is composed of four or more parts. These separate
parts are called (2) sepals. In other flowers the sepals have grown
together so they appear to be only one sepal. In such flowers we count
the sepals by the small notches on top.
The second whorl is called the (3) corolla. This whorl is usually the
most highly colored part of the flower. If either of these whorls is
absent in a flower, it is the calix. Sometimes both whorls are absent.
The separate parts of the corolla are called (4) petals. Sometimes the
petals are separate from the base of the flower. In other flowers they
are more or less united.
=The papa parts.=--While the calix and corolla form the most attractive
and beautiful parts, they are not the most important parts of a flower.
The prettiest things are not always the best or most useful things. Let
us now carefully examine these central organs. They are called the
essential organs. Were it not for these organs in the flowers, no new
grasses, plants, vegetables and trees would come into this world. Such a
misfortune would rob this world of most of its beauty and much of its
value. In this flower, the next whorl consists of a number of small
slender organs. These are called (5) stamens. They are the father parts
of the flower and possess the father nature. On top of these organs are
little delicate bodies, poised lightly, and filled with a very fine
dust. These little bodies are called (6) anthers. The fine grains of
powder are called pollen. You can rub the pollen off with your finger.
This dust varies slightly in color in different flowers.
=The mamma parts.=--The central organ in this flower is called the pistil.
The pistil is composed of three parts. At the base of the pistil is the
(7) pod, more correctly called the ovary. In the ovary little seed are
formed. On top of the ovary is a slender organ called the style. On top
of the style is a spongy enlargement called the (9) stigma. The stigma,
style and ovary form the mother part of the flower and possess the
mother nature. In some plants each flower has more than one pistil.
[Illustration]
=How the papa and mamma natures unite.=--When the pollen is ripe, the
anther cells burst open and the little, light, powdery pollen falls out
and it is carried by gravity, the wind or by insects to the stigma. The
little pores of the stigma open and admit the grains of pollen and the
style carries the pollen to the ovary where it unites with the little
seed. The seed are then said to be fertilized. This means that the
father and mother natures have united in the seed. The seed grow and
develop in the ovary. While this is being done, food for the little baby
plants to live on while only a day or two old, is being stored up in the
seed. In such seed is the tiny beginning of a future plant. The seed
ripen in the pod. The pod bursts open and the seed fall upon the ground,
or men gather them, and later plant them in the soil. The spring
sunshine and rain cause the seed to sprout and as tiny stems appear
above the ground, only an inch or so high, they are nothing in the world
but little baby sprigs of grass, little baby weeds, little baby
vegetables or little baby trees.
When God created the first grasses, plants and trees, He commanded them
to be “fruitful and multiply.” In this story you have learned how all
the grown-up plants and trees obey this command of God.
=The two natures do not always exist in the same flower.=--In the flowers
we have studied, we found both the male and female organs in the same
flower. Each flower possessed the two natures, male and female. But
this is not true of all plants and trees. In some plants and trees
flowers can be found having only stamens. These would be father-flowers.
They could not produce seed or fruit. On some plants and trees may be
found flowers having only pistils. These are mother-flowers. Flowers of
these two kinds may be found growing on the same limb of a plant or
tree, or on different limbs, or on different trees. The poplar and
willow trees are examples of the last kind.
In the case of the Indian corn, the ear of corn, including the cob, the
grains, shuck and silk form the mother part of the cornstalk. The tassel
of the cornstalk is the father part and contains the father nature. The
tassel produces a great deal of pollen. You have, on passing through a
patch of corn, noticed the pollen falling everywhere and covering
everything. Ears of corn sometimes have as many as 1000 grains of corn
to the cob. Each grain sends out one or more little silks beyond the
shuck to catch some of the pollen. Should these little silks fail to
catch the grains of pollen, no grains of corn would form on the cob. The
father and mother natures must unite if little seed are formed. From
this we learn why it is that every little sprig of grass, weed,
vegetable, and tree must have a father and mother and their natures must
unite.
=The three methods.=--We mentioned three ways by which the pollen from the
male organs is carried to the stigma of the female organ: wind, gravity
and insects. In the corn, the ears are below the tassel and gravity is
all that is necessary to carry the pollen to the silks. Where one tree
bears bloom having only stamens and another tree of the same species
bears flowers having only pistils, nature may use both the wind and
insects in carrying the pollen from the male to the female tree. In some
plants and trees the blooms are so constructed that gravity and the wind
are of but little service. In such flowers a sweet juice is formed at
the base of the flower. This attracts the bees and insects. As they
press down into the flower to sip the sweet juice they rub off some of
the pollen on to their wings, legs and back. The next flower they enter,
some of this pollen is rubbed off on the stigma of that flower. In this
way the seed are fertilized. From this we see that the real purpose of
the sweet juice in the flower, is not produced for food for the insects,
but for the purpose of attracting the insects so they may carry the
pollen from one flower to another.
=A most wise, sacred and beautiful plan.=--In this little story, you have
learned in a general way God’s plan of bringing all little grasses,
plants, vegetables and trees into being that come from a seed. You have
learned two great laws, namely; every plant that comes from a seed must
have a father and mother, and, the father and mother natures must unite
in the seed. These two great laws are just as true in the animals and in
the human family as among the plants. When we most admire a beautiful
bed of flowers or a blooming tree, when we gather a bouquet of flowers
to wear, or offer to a friend, at that very moment the two natures are
uniting for the purpose of increasing their kind. God is the author of
the male and female organs of the plants and for this reason the union
of their two natures is sacred and pure. Plants were the first living
things that God made; man was the last. The plants were at the bottom of
God’s work of creation; man was at the top. If the same laws we have
found in the plants, that enable them to bring their little children
into the world, are the same laws that enable human fathers and mothers
to bring their little children into the world, and since we found this
plan to be sacred and pure among all the flowers; then this same plan,
when used in the human family, must be pure and sacred. If man is so
much higher in the scale of life than the flower, then these laws must
be even more sacred in the human family. This will show you how very
degrading it is to entertain low and vulgar thoughts about the coming of
little children into this world, as some people do.