THE FOURTH STORY--BABY ANIMALS AND MAN
As the days and months glided by, our little girls were greeted one
autumn morning by the advent of a little baby brother. Wife had given
consent, years gone by, for me to tell the foregoing stories of life;
but, only a few months before the above event, she had requested the
privilege of telling this last story, as the girls would naturally ask
of her how the little fellow came. This she told them, in a way no
doubt, better than I could have done.
In lecturing to multiplied thousands of boys and many hundreds of girls,
I have told the stories of life much as I did to my little girls, with
this story added.
=Baby animals.=--We will now study God’s plan of increase in the higher
animals and man. We shall find many striking resemblances and
interesting variations between the lower forms of life that we have
studied and the higher forms that we shall now study. All along the
ascending scale of life we have found male and female organs of sex,
possessing male and female natures. We have found that the male organs
of sex produce a fertilizing substance called pollen in plants and
semen in animals; that the female organs of sex produce seeds in plants
and eggs in animals. We have found that every new plant, fish, insect,
and bird comes from the union of the pollen with the seed, or the semen
with the eggs. This last fact is true of the higher animals and man. We
found that the seed of the plants are fertilized in the ovaries of the
mother organs; that eggs of fish are fertilized outside of the body of
the mother; that the eggs of insects and birds are fertilized inside of
the mother’s body. This last plan is also true of the higher animals and
man. We found that the seed of plants were sown or planted in the soil;
that the eggs of fish were deposited in water; that the eggs of insects
and birds were laid in some specially arranged place for them, usually
called nests. In the higher animals and man the young starts from a tiny
fertilized egg and grows in an organ in the mother’s body, called the
womb, until it is strong and old enough to be born.
The earliest stage of plant life in the little seed is called an embryo.
When the seed has been planted and the little embryo appears above
ground, it is then a little baby plant. The earliest stage of animal
life in the egg of the fish, insect or bird, is an embryo. The mother
part of the plant stores up food in the seed and the growing embryo
feeds upon this food, until its little roots have grown down into the
soil where they can take up food from the soil and the blades or leaves
are large enough to receive light and heat from the sun and food from
the atmosphere. The mother fish, insect and bird store up food in their
eggs for the little embryos to live upon until they are hatched. Among
the higher animals and man, the embryo begins with the tiny fertilized
egg in the mother’s womb and receives nourishment and life from the
mother’s blood through a duct, called the placenta, which is connected
with the mother’s womb at one end while the other end connects with the
body of the embryo at a point called the navel. In this way the mother
furnishes the young with all the air, food, water and life that it gets
until it is born. Among the higher animals and man the young when born
are very tender and helpless. For several weeks or months they are fed
on milk from their mother’s breasts. In higher forms of life the birth
of young is attended by greater sacrifice and suffering than in lower
forms of life. For months, and in the case of man, for years, the
parents must labor and sacrifice to feed, protect and educate them.
Birth in the human family is attended by greater suffering and the
little baby is more helpless and tender, and for this reason requires
more tender care than the young of any other animal. You have observed
that in the lower forms of life where the parents do not have to suffer
to bring their young into the world or labor to provide for them food
or shelter that they do not love their young. As we ascend the scale of
life in our study, we find that love exists between the parents and
young just in proportion as the parents suffer and labor for their
young.
One of the most impressive and effective ways of telling the story of
life in man was told by a wise and queenly mother in the following true
story. This mother introduces the story by telling how solicitous she
became about her little boy when he was about seven or eight years old.
He was in the public school where he was likely any day to hear the
story of life from some wicked boy. She was anxious that her boy should
hear this story first from his mother’s lips.
=How a mother told the story of life to her boy.=--In telling the story,
the mother said:
One morning, the opportunity that I had been praying and watching for,
came. I observed my little boy playing rather roughly, not cruelly, with
the pet cat. Speaking kindly to him, I said, “Son, don’t be rough with
the old cat; handle her gently.” “Why, mamma?” he replied. “Son, mamma
cannot make the reason clear to you now, but you obey mamma and in about
ten days, mamma will tell you a very beautiful story, and, then you will
understand.” As those days glided by, with pride I observed the unusual
attention and kindness he showed the old cat. One morning, about ten
days later, he came running into my presence, perfectly delighted,
wonderfully elated, and overflowing with joy, he invited me out the back
way to see what he had found. I anticipated his discovery, but I wanted
him to have all the pleasure. So, I offered him my hand while he proudly
led the way. As we stepped from the back porch, turning he pointed his
finger under the floor; I looked, and there was the old mother cat and
by her side were four as beautiful little kittens, basking in the
sunlight, as the human eye ever saw. He bragged about having found them;
called my attention to their color and markings; and claimed two of them
as his own.
We sat down on a rustic seat where we could still see them. We admired
their plumpness, color, eyes and playfulness and chatted together about
them. At length I said, “Son, do you remember about ten days ago when
you were playing rather roughly and I asked you to handle the old cat
tenderly?” Promptly he replied; “Yes, mamma, and you promised me that in
about ten days you would tell me a beautiful story that would explain
why I should handle the old cat kindly. Can you tell me that story this
morning?” “Yes, son, mamma is ready to tell you the sweetest and purest
story that a mother can tell her son. When mamma asked you to be kind to
the old cat, those four little kittens were then in her body. That was
why the old cat was larger than she is now. The little kittens were then
much smaller and very tender, and, had you been rough with the old cat,
you might have injured them; and, then, they might have been born
crippled, deformed or dead. When they were born three or four days ago
their little eyes were so tender that the full light of the sun would
have put out their sight, so they were born with their eyelids closed
and glued together. The old cat knew how tender their eyes would be, so
three or four days ago she went away back under the dark floor and gave
them birth. As they have grown older and their eyes have become
stronger, every few hours the old cat has brought them a few feet nearer
the light. Meanwhile, their eyelids have gradually opened until they can
now look up at the sun as well as you can. If they had been born out in
the open, the full light of the sun would have made their tender little
eyes very sore or put them out.”
By this time I saw that my boy was very anxious to ask me a question. I
was just as eager for him to ask it. I believed that he was going to ask
the very question that my mother heart longed for him to ask; the very
question that I believed God wanted my little boy to ask. I paused and
looked into his little upturned face. As his deep, true blue eyes met
mine, spontaneously, naturally, seriously he enquired, “Mamma, was I
once in your body, too?” “Yes, son, you were formed in mamma’s body, in
a little nest or home underneath mamma’s heart. You started as a little
cell. For two hundred and eighty long days, nine full months, nearly a
whole year, you were growing in mamma’s body. Mamma knew that you were
there and loved and prayed for you long before you were born. Mamma had
to be careful not to meet with an accident lest you might be born
crippled, deformed or dead. Mamma had to be cautious about the food she
ate, the air she breathed, the water she drank, the exercise she took,
all she thought and did; because you were united to mamma by a little
cord filled with blood vessels, through which mamma was supplying you
from her blood with all the materials necessary for your forming body,
mind and soul. In this way you were being influenced by mamma. Mamma was
anxious that you might have a healthy and perfect body and grow up to be
a smart, good and great man. If mamma had been angry, untruthful or
dishonest during these months that you were a part of her, you might
have been born with an ugly disposition, tendency to steal or be
untruthful. Mamma was very careful about all she thought, said and did
during the months you were a part of her body.
“Mamma knew about the day that you would leave your little home and come
into this world. For hours mamma suffered great pain. The faithful
doctor was present and did all he could to lessen mamma’s suffering.
Papa stood at my side, held my hands in his, often stooped over and
kissed my lips, cheeks and brow. As soon as you were born, the air
rushed into your lungs and you cried, just as all little babies do when
they are born alive. Mamma heard your baby cry and it thrilled her with
joy known only to a mother, when she knows that her little baby is
alive. But, son, when you were born and for many weeks and months, you
were tiny, tender and helpless. No one in this world, and, God could not
have found an angel in all of heaven who could have cared for you as
well as mamma could. Mamma fed you at her breast, held you in her lap,
fondled you in her arms and sung lullabies to you. When you were only a
few weeks old you would have the colic. All night long your little body
would be racked with pain and mamma would walk the floor with you, rub
your little body and sing to you.” By this time my little boy was
standing up close by my side, had both arms thrown around my neck, his
little lips were kissing my cheek, and tears were rolling down his on to
mine. Then he said, “Mamma, I am glad you have told me that story. I
love you better now. I did not know that you loved and prayed for me
before you ever saw me; that you were so careful that I might be well
born; that you had to suffer so much when I was born; and that you
cared for me so good when I was so small and when I was sick. This story
will help me love you better and I will try never to disobey or tell you
a falsehood.”
* * * * *
Do you not see how much better it was for this boy to hear the story of
his life from the pure lips of his loving mother, than to hear it first
from the lips of some ignorant and wicked boy or man? Well this is the
story of your life. You cannot understand now how much your mamma
suffered in bringing you into this world. Then, both your father and
mother have made many sacrifices for you and are deeply interested in
your future. If you should make a shipwreck of life, I am sure that
their old days would be spent in grief. How can you repay your parents
for all their sacrifices? If you will keep your thoughts, words and
actions pure, every time your parents see or think of you, they will be
thrilled with joy and appreciation. Will you not now promise yourself
and promise God that by His forgiveness of the past, grace and help now
and in the future, that you will keep yourself pure? When you have done
this will you not go and kiss mamma, and tell her that you love her
better than ever before and that you are determined to live up to her
prayers and wishes?