EVERY GIRL'S BOOK EVERY GIRL'S BOOK BY GEORGE F. BUTLER, M. D. 1912 THE ABBOTT PRESS RAVENSWOOD CHICAGO Copyright 1912 THE ABBOTT PRESS CHICAGO PUBLISHER'S NOTES This is the second of a series of books on "How to Live, " by Dr. George F. Butler. These books range from childhood to old age. The boyand the girl, the young man and young woman, the young husband andyoung wife, middle-aged people, and old people are instructed in thesebooks in matters of the utmost importance to their health andhappiness. The first in this series was "Every Boy's Book. " These twobooks are especially intended for boys and girls from ten to fourteenyears of age, but every father and mother should read them, so they, too, can know the truth about these great sex facts, and be preparedto answer children's questions--now sometimes troublesome. CONTENTS Chapter Page I. How the Story Began 1 II. What the Bee Wanted of Elsie's Nose 10 III. The Husbands and Wives of Plants 21 IV. The Papa and Mamma Parts of the Plants 34 V. The First Life on Earth 43 VI. Where Baby Animals Come From 54 VII. Where Baby Girls Come From 62 PREFACE The greatest duty of mankind lies in the proper uprearing of ourchildren. The fact is recognized, but is the duty fulfilled?Do we rear our children as we should? There is but one answer:We fail. Teaching them many things for their good, we yet keepfrom them ignorantly, foolishly, with a hesitancy and neglectunpardonable--knowledge, the possession of which is essential fortheir future welfare. The first necessity for well-being is a healthy mind in a healthybody. We can give our children that, if we will, by teaching them allabout the body, its source of life, its different functions, and itscare. The child should grow to maturity knowing that the human bodyis something fine, something that accomplishes good, something to beproud of in every way. Above all should the child be taught allconcerning the process of reproduction, just as it is taught theaction of the stomach or of the brain. By so doing, we can produce abetter and healthier and happier generation to follow ours. By whatstrange and mistaken impulse in the past such absolutely requiredteaching has been so studiously withheld is beyond all comprehension. We want the best for our children. We want them to grow up with rightthoughts and habits, yet we keep from them the knowledge without whichtheir thoughts and habits will surely be imperiled when there arisesin them the generative instinct, which has its effect upon both maleand female youth alike. We give them no information as to sexual matters; and, when it comesto them, it is too often but in the way of half-truths, mysterious, exciting to the imagination, and dangerous. Yet how simple and natural the giving of this information might bemade; and how easily the child might be safeguarded! Mankind hasdemands which must be gratified. We have hunger; we have thirst; wehave the impulse of reproduction. Each is right and natural. Thereshould be no difference in the consideration of either of these wants. All about them the child should be taught, from the beginning, so thatall will be natural and right and commonplace and a matter of courselong before the age is reached when the sexual instinct is developed. Is not this reason? Is it not healthful, logical, common sense? Is itnot the wholesome and right and proper view? Nature is devoted to reproduction. From the cell to the flower, and soon upward, the creatures of the world are but renewing themselves, andthe learning of this is the greatest and most beautiful of allstudies. All this the child can be taught. Elementary biology, or the study of subjects of what we call zoologyand botany combined, can be made the most attractive of studies to anychild who has learned to read. The boy or girl may be taught that thetrees and flowers are living things that are beautiful and are maleand female. The child may be shown how the bees carry the pollen fromflower to flower, and how other plants and flowers are produced inthat way. He can be taught the wonder of seed, and its consequences. He can beshown the birds in their mating, and the marvel of the egg, and why itcan produce a chicken. And thus the child, boy or girl, may be led on, through the gradations, to a study of the human body, and howreproduction is provided for there as in the bodies of all otherliving things, vegetable or animal. Before the child, boy or girl, has reached the age of ten, long beforethe sex instinct has been aroused, the sexual lesson will have beenlearned innocently and thoroughly and, when the change comes, it willbe as no bewildering, exciting thing, but something anticipated, andreceived with a sense of understanding and responsibility. This knowledge almost unknowingly acquired as a child, will meanhealth of mind and of body, and the avoidance of what may result mostevilly. How is sexual instruction given now? In tens of thousands ofinstances--no doubt in the majority--not at all. Lectures to youth ofeither sex are given sometimes, but only when they have reached whatis called "the age of understanding. " Here is where parents err, and seriously. The teaching has beendeferred too long. The young of either sex, long before puberty, haveacquired some knowledge of the mystery--which should have been nomystery at all--and late teaching, however sound and wise, but givesan added and inviting direction to the subject suddenly made to assumea new and startling importance. It arouses curiosity, and more. It maysometimes be harmful. As for the youth never taught at all, those who acquire theirknowledge only through accidental sources--usually incapable, and toooften vicious--their case could not be worse. They are unprepared forone of the tests and demands for life. Their parents are guilty. There is nothing impure in nature. To guard the children, to preparethem for every phase of life, is the parents' duty. The child is pure, and to the child all things are pure. Teach the child, simply as amatter of course, all about the ways of reproduction, and to the boyor girl purity will remain when the age of sexual sway and impulsecomes. This is the only law in the case. Let it be followed, and thegeneration to follow will be clearer, wiser, and healthier than is thepresent one. It is my hope that this "Every Girl's Book" (with "Every Boy's Book"which preceded it) will afford the means so long needed and desiredfor teaching children what they should be taught. I have tried to tellthe story of sex naturally, in a clear and simple way, from thedevelopment of life, and of life's relations, from protoplasm allthrough organic life up to mankind. Its teachings should result inwide promotion of the innocence of knowledge which is better, infinitely, than the imperiling innocence of ignorance. George F. Butler, M. D. Chicago, Ill. July 1, 1912. I HOW THE STORY BEGAN Her name was Elsie and she was asleep in a cozy nook in the woods, which was the beginning of it all. Many strange things may happen to a little girl who falls asleep inthe woods, but there never happened to any other little girl, eitherasleep or awake, in the woods or at home, a more important thing thanthat which had its start for Elsie while she lay there under the greenboughs beside a bubbling spring of crystal-clear water, the scent ofpines and flowers sweetening the still air. A robin redbreast whistledmelodiously for "rain, rain, rain, " and the cows in the pasture, whodo not like rain as well as they do sunshine, lifted up their voicesin protest, calling "oo-oo-ohh! moo-oo-hh! noo-oo-hh!" as if they weretrying to say "no, no, no!" and could not speak the English languagewell. It was a peaceful woodland scene, a scene into which, if youwere awake, you would expect that a railroad train would be about thelast thing that could possibly enter. But Elsie was asleep, and in her dreams she was sure she saw a greatlocomotive engine charging down upon her with frightful speed. As soonas she saw it she tried to cry out, but could not do so. Somehow shecould not send a single sound from her lips. Then she tried to jumpout of the way, but was unable to do that either. She could not evenmove in the slightest degree. So, full of terror, she thought shestood there, helplessly, while the engine rushed nearer and nearer, puffing forth vast clouds of black smoke, and roaring and hissing andclanking. Again she tried to scream, and could not: again she tried torun aside, but could not move. She seemed so small, so tiny and weak, beside that monster! And she wondered how it could possibly bear tohurt her, a big, powerful thing like that--it was not fair! But--bang!The cowcatcher caught her up-- And she awoke to see a fuzzy bumble-bee just alighting on her nose! Though Elsie did not, as a general thing, care much for bumble-bees, and would rather have their room than their company, she was so highlyrelieved to find that the gigantic engine was _only_ a bumble-bee thatshe said, "Oh!" with such violence of surprise and gladness that thebee, doubtless as much afraid of her as she had been of thedream-engine, shot out of sight in an instant and she never saw himafterward, that she knew of. She sat a moment staring after him, trying to collect herself, for shewas confused with her sudden awakening, and then she jumped uplaughing. "What a funny bumble-bee!" she exclaimed. "_I_ wouldn't have hurthim!" Then in conscious dignity, proud to think that she was now bigenough for something to be afraid of, she took up the pail of waterthat she had come to get from the spring and hurried homeward. Now if this were all the story it would not amount to much, and itnever would have got itself told in these pages. And, if Elsie hadbeen like some girls, who are not chums with their mothers, the storywould never have been told here either, because she would not haverepeated the adventure to her mamma, in which case her mamma would nothave taken the story up where the daughter left it, and shown itsimportance. But Elsie and her mother were like two sisters, a big anda little one, and there were not many things that happened to the onethat the other did not hear of very soon. So away went Elsie singingand laughing and swinging her pail of water, her bright hair blowingin wisps around her sweet face with its red lips and cheeks and whiteteeth, the prettiest, loveliest picture in the whole lovely landscapeof foliage and flowers and pastures and meadows. Nobody in the world ever yet found a prettier picture anywhere than afresh and clean girl is, as everybody will admit if asked, and Elsiewas fresh and clean even if she had just been rudely aroused fromsleep. She bathed her whole body twice every day, washed her face andhands often, brushed her teeth always after eating, smiled a greatdeal, and got plenty of fresh air and sunshine, and this was enough tomake any girl fresh and clean and pretty, or almost enough. Of course a girl must eat sufficient food, and must brush her hair andtake care of her nails, and all those little things--everybody knowsthat. But the main things, beside food, the things, too, that somelittle girls fail in, are air, sunshine, water and smiles. Elsie hadall these and therefore she looked clean and fresh and pretty. She had on a dress too, naturally, but I don't know just what kind ofa one it was, for that is a small matter compared with the bodyitself. I think it was some kind of a calico, made for vacationfrolicing, for Elsie was a city girl staying in the country for thesummer, and almost anything was good enough for that. So Elsie, fresh and clean, dancing and singing up the lane, swingingher pail of crystal water, the loveliest sight in the whole lovelylandscape, came in view of the house where they were staying. And nosooner had she caught a glimpse of her mother on the porch than, eagerto tell her funny experience, she ran forward in pleasant excitement, crying out: "Oh, mamma! Such a queer thing--Oh, Oh, it was an engine, the biggest, biggest you ever saw--and--and it stepped on my nose--I mean it wasonly a bumble-bee and--it--it almost ran right over me--" "Isn't my little girl somewhat mixed in her speech!" smiled her motheras Elsie paused for breath. "I--I guess I--I am!" Elsie faltered. "But then, I'm so excited!" "Yes, you are excited, " smiled her mother, putting her arm around hershoulders and walking with her to the kitchen. "And when you are calmyou may tell me all about it. " So Elsie carried the pail of water to the sink and set it on itsshelf. And when she had worked off her surplus energy in this way shefelt sober enough to tell her story clearly, and she did so, snuggledin her mother's arms in the hammock on the porch. She finished bysaying: "Wasn't that a funny thing, mamma, that I should dream that thebumble-bee was an engine just going to run over me!" Then the really important part of the story began. Her motheranswered: II WHAT THE BEE WANTED OF ELSIE'S NOSE "Yes, it may seem funny, but it is natural. When you were asleep youheard the bee buzzing and rumbling, and the sound reminded you of anengine, so you began to picture an engine in your mind, and with thequeer mixture of fact and fancy that are common to dreams you thoughtit was coming right at you. And it was only a bumble-bee taking a lookat your little red-and-white nose. " Elsie clapped her hands and laughed. Then she asked: "What did the bee want to see my nose for, mamma?" "He thought, perhaps, that it was some new kind of a bud, and hewished to examine it, " Mrs. Edson smiled. "A little girl's face isvery much like a pretty flower. Your hair was tumbled all about yourhead, I suppose, and your little rosebud of a nose, peeking through, attracted the bee. " At this idea Elsie laughed again, joyously. "But, mamma, " she asked, "why should the bee wish to see my nose, evenif he did think it might be a flower? Do bees eat flowers, mamma?" Elsie's mother threw her a sudden look that was almost a startled one. Then she hugged her close and kissed her. "What a great big little girl you are getting to be, darling!" shesaid, gazing fondly at her. This did not seem to Elsie much like ananswer to her question, and she fixed her eyes brightly on hermother's face as if waiting for her to go on with her words. But hermother only said: "I scarcely realized that you were no longer mylittle baby-girl, and that you were instead almost a young lady, oldenough to understand many new things, among them the reason why a beegoes to flowers. " She paused again, looking at her big little girl wistfully. She wasthinking: "Elsie has begun to be a woman now, and I shall soon, alltoo soon, lose my baby-girl, for she will grow up and marry and goaway to a home of her own and have a little girl like herself, just asI have had her!" This made her feel sad, but she said nothing to Elsie of this feeling, for she would not be able to understand it and it would only make herfeel sad too. By and by she would tell her what it meant to have ahusband and children and home of her own, after her parents werepassed away, and she must begin to prepare her for this knowledge now. So, finally, she said: "No, darling, bees do not eat flowers, though they eat a part of them, or a product of them. The most important thing that they visit flowersfor, as far as the world is concerned, is to fertilize them. " "Fer-fer-ilize!" stammered Elsie. "What is that, mamma?" "Not ferferilize, darling, but fertilize, fer-til-ize, which means tomake rich, or fruitful. As strange as it may seem the bees and otherinsects are of vast importance to men--sh-h!" She suddenly held up her hand, motioning for silence, and Elsie, wondering what was coming, followed her mother's pointing finger withher eyes. What she saw was a bee hovering over a bright yellowbuttercup that grew almost within reach of where she sat. "Watch him!" whispered her mother. Elsie did so, holding her breath for fear of scaring him away. Healighted on the flower, crawled clumsily over it for a second or two, pausing now and then to bury his head in the blossom, but he did notdo anything else, that Elsie could see, except to tumble about veryawkwardly and funnily and then fly away to another buttercup andrepeat the operation. Elsie drew a long breath and looked at hermother inquiringly. "It did not seem as if he did much, did it, dearie!" she said inanswer to the look. "But in reality he did a great deal, for he--whatshall I say--married? Yes, married! The bee actually married those twobuttercups together, so that next season, when these two flowers, thepapa and mamma, are dead and gone, there will spring up and grow otherbuttercups, baby-plants, the children of these two. If it were not forthe bee, or other insects, we should have no bright flowers in theworld. " "Oh!" Elsie's eyes opened wide. She thought a moment, then, "Could hemarry my nose to anything?" she burst forth. But seeing the absurdityof the notion before the words were fairly out of her mouth she joinedin her mother's laughter over it. "No, dearie, of course not. It is only flowers that bees marrytogether. And not the least strange thing about it is that they do notknow they are doing so. " "Don't know what they are doing!" exclaimed Elsie. "Oh, yes, they know what they are doing for themselves, but they can'thave the least notion of what they are doing for the flowers andindeed for the whole world! Without plants there could be no life ofany kind on earth. It is the plants that produce life. Through themcome animals, and even men and women and little girls. The plants feedon the earth and air, which men and animals cannot do. A man or a lambcannot eat the soil or live on air, but a plant lives by eating theminerals and gases and water of the earth and air, and the man andthe lamb eat the plants, and so are able to live. Without the plantswe could not exist, and without the insects, which fertilize theplants, so that they can grow, the plants themselves would soon die. Don't you think now that what the bee did was quite an importantmatter, even if it did seem so trivial?" "Ye-yes, " Elsie hesitated. She did not yet grasp the full depth of hermother's words. They meant so much! "But, " she continued, her brighteyes eagerly turned on her mother's face, "we don't eat the buttercup, mamma, do we?" "No, sweetie, but we do eat very gladly a part of it, and that is thepart that the bee visited the flower for, and which he took away ashis fee for marrying the two. Can you guess what it is?" The idea of a bee performing a marriage between flowers and taking afee for it was a little too much for Elsie, and when it was added thatshe and her mother ate this fee such a look of amazement came into hersweet face that her mother could not help smiling broadly. "It is the honey, little girlie, " she said. "The bee takes the honeyfrom the flower and carries it home to the hive, where he stores it upuntil he has a great mass of it, and then the bee-man gets it andsells it to the grocer, who sells it to us. " "W-e-l-l!" said Elsie slowly, "if that isn't strange!" She sat amoment thinking of this miracle, her mother watching her lovingly andconsidering what she ought to say next, for she had a great secret totell her little daughter, a secret so great and important that muchwise thought was required to study out just how to make it plain to agirl as young as Elsie. Besides, she was interested to know what Elsieherself would say next, for she was bringing her up to thinklogically, so that she might know always how to ask the right questionat the right time, instead of the wrong one. And she was very muchpleased when Elsie, instead of putting the last question first, assome little girls would have done, put the right one first by saying: "But, mamma, how _can_ flowers marry! And how can a bee possibly marrythem?" This was the right question to ask first, even if it was a kind ofdouble-headed one, because this marriage was the first of the wondersthat had amazed her, and the answer to it would lead logically to thefee and the honey eaten by people, and these questions would be easierto make plain after the first one was answered. III THE HUSBANDS AND WIVES OF PLANTS Mrs. Edson drew a long breath because she knew the time had arrivedwhen, for her little daughter's sake, she must give her theinformation which would mark her growth from girlhood into youngwomanhood, and the fact disturbed her, for she did not want to loseher little girl, even in exchange for the lovely young lady whom sheknew would take that dear little girl's place. But it must be done, and, thankful that she had studied the subject enough to know how todo it in a nice and plain way, she began: "In the first place, dear, " she said, "you must know that the flowersare the husbands and wives of plants, made so by nature. They are intheir way as truly married as Mr. And Mrs. Jones are in their way, oras your papa and I are. This marriage is a law of nature, invented tocarry on the race, whatever that race may be, whether it is that ofmankind, or plants, or animals, or birds, or even fishes. For not onlydo men and flowers marry, everything in nature does the same--turtles, frogs, robins, elephants, everything!" Elsie wished very much at this point to ask if her mother had everseen an elephant's wife, thinking that she must look rather funny, much different, to say the least, from a flower's wife, but as theanswer came to her at once, without asking the question, she saidnothing. Of course an elephant's wife must be another elephant, as theflower's wife was another flower. But it was all very singular, andthe sparkle of her eyes as she looked into her mother's face showedher interest in what might be coming. Mrs. Edson went on: "We will begin with plants, because they came first into the world asliving beings, and all other living beings not only had their originin plants but live by aid of them to this day. From the plants grewanimals, and from animals grew men and women and little girls. It tooka long, long time for all this to come about, so long that the humanmind fails to grasp or comprehend it; and at first, when one hears ofit for the first time, it seems wholly impossible and unbelievable. But science has proved it to be true, and even shows the exact way inwhich the various changes were made. Many, if not all, the steps bywhich we mounted from the condition of a tiny speck of jelly-plant, aspeck no bigger than the point of a pin, to become human beings arestill in existence and are frequently observed by scientists. With amicroscope anybody may see them. So we know that the theory ofevolution, as it is called, is a true one. It is also an exceedinglywonderful and beautiful truth, full of secrets and surprises of themost interesting and delightful kind, as I shall show. Now let's goand examine the buttercup that the bee just married to the secondbuttercup. " Elsie jumped up with a little gurgle of joy and ran ahead of hermother to the flower. This was better than playing "secret" withRosie and Eva and the other girls, for their secrets were not realones, they were just made up and they did not amount to very muchafter all, but this was a real one, kept up in earnest with the beesand flowers. And now she was to be let into it! Mrs. Edson bent overthe bright yellow blossom, taking it gently in her fingers to preventit from nodding so briskly in the breeze that they should be unable toexamine it closely. "You see, dear, " she said, pointing with a twig to the different partsas she named them, "right here, in the exact center of the blossom, isa bunch of green growing in the form of an oval, shaped somewhat likean egg with the smaller end upward. " "Yes, oh, yes!" Elsie answered eagerly. "What is it, mamma?" "Broadly speaking we will call it the ovary. I am not going to confuseyou by giving you too many hard words at first, words like corolla, carpel, style, stigma, and the like. I shall name only two parts ofthe flower for you to remember just now, because only two are reallynecessary to be named at this point. So the name of this oneis--what?" "Ovary!" answered Elsie quickly. "Yes, ovary! It is called so because it contains ovules, which aretiny seeds or eggs. That is the mother part of the plant. " "The mother!" Elsie queried. "Why, mamma, is there a father too?" "Yes, dearie, many plants have both a mother and a father part, whichgrow near together in the same flower, while other plants have only afather part, and still others have only a mother part. This buttercuphas both, has both the male and the female principle. The ovary is thefemale, and here, above it and surrounding it, you see a number oftaller spires, yellow in color and each of them bearing a tinyenlargement, a kind of knob, at the top. " "Yes, yes, but that--that can't be the papa part! Is it, mamma?" shecried, examining the rather insignificant appearing spires dubiously. "They don't look much like a--a papa!" she said in somedisappointment. Her mother laughed. "They certainly do not look much like a man-papa, " she returned, "butthey form the papa part of the plant, nevertheless, and are truly thepapas of the baby buttercups. And their name is the second one that Iwish you to remember from now on. It is stamen. " "Stamen!" said Elsie. "Yes, each of these stems is called a stamen, and they form the malepart of the plant, the father part. Many plants, those of the simplerkinds, have only one stamen and it grows in the flower so that itshead hangs right above the ovary. Here you see that all of the stamensare above the ovary, and the reason why they are placed there bynature you will see very soon. What I wish now is to show you why thebee came to the flower. " "I know--it was for honey! Isn't that what you said before, mamma?" "Yes, darling, but do you see any honey here?" "No, mamma, and I never knew before that buttercups had honey. Ialways thought honey came from a beehive. " "It does come to us from a beehive, but it comes from flowers first, and one of the many kinds that furnish it is this buttercup. The beesips it from the flowers, just a tiny bit from each blossom that hevisits, and when he has enough he takes it home to the hive and putsit away to eat by-and-by, in the winter, when there are no flowersgrowing for him to rifle. He does it just as men lay away money for 'arainy day, ' as we say, and as squirrels lay up a store of nuts for thecold weather. Now, suppose you count those flattened, round-corneredparts of the buttercup--how many are there?" "Five, " said Elsie quickly. "Yes, there are five of them, and they are called petals. You willnotice that they are much narrower and slighter at the bottom thanthey are at the top. It is at the bottom that they are joined to thecentral part of the flower. Now, just where they are connected withthis central part there is a tiny sack of honey. " "It must be _very_ tiny, " said Elsie, regarding the slender connectionearnestly, "for there isn't room enough for much, I'm sure. And itmust be all covered up, for I can't see any signs of it. " "It is covered up. There is a very small scale, or leaf, over it toprotect it from those insects who have no right to the honey. But thebee knows how to get at it, and he does so very quickly, once healights on the blossom, as we have just seen one do. For while heappeared as if he were merely tumbling clumsily around on the flowerhe was sampling those honey-sacks, and we saw how speedily he finishedall five of them on this flower and then buzzed busily away to theother. " "He was just the same as at dinner, then, wasn't he mamma! But why didhe go to the other flower--didn't he get all he wanted from thisone?" "No, darlingest, he gets but very little from each flower. If he couldtake all he wanted from one he would never fly right to another. Andthen, if all the other insects should do the same, the whole plan ofnature would fall through and there would soon be no life on earth. " Elsie's eyes looked very large when she heard this. "Would I die, and you, mamma, and all of us--Alice and Rosie, and, oh, everybody we know?" "Yes, dearie, all of us. Those few simple plants which still, in theprimitive way, fertilize themselves, are not enough and are too weakto carry on the vegetation of the earth, and without the insects andbirds and the wind we never should have been born at all; for they arenecessary to make the plants reproduce their kinds and grow, and theplants are necessary food for us as well as for the animals that weeat, such as the hens and ducks and sheep and cows. So nature hasgiven each flower only a little honey, not enough for the bee, and heis compelled to fly to many before he becomes satisfied. And thisbrings us back to the stamen and ovary again, to show what they arefor and how the bee marries the two plants together after he hascollected his fee of delicious honey. " "I am all 'tention, " said Elsie, in so quaint an imitation of olderfolks that her mother was forced to smile, knowing that she had alistener that was interested, to say the least--a listener who feltthe importance and gravity of the study which they were now pursuing. Elsie never attempted big words except when she felt dignified. IV THE PAPA AND MAMMA PARTS OF THE PLANTS "Now, " said Mrs. Edson, taking hold of the buttercup again, "you seehere, at the top of each stamen, the slight enlargement that Imentioned. It looks like a kind of knob, and it really is a hard, hollow sack, or bag, containing a fine yellow powder, which is calledpollen. Is that plain so far, dearie?" "Pollen, yes, mamma! And do you wish me to remember that name too?" "Yes, it is very necessary that you should do so. You will soon learnwhy. Now look again at the green ovary. That is also hollow, andcontains seeds or eggs, as I said before. In plants we call themseeds and in animals eggs. And it is these seeds that grow into thebaby plants. But they cannot grow alone, without help. With a certainkind of help they can and do grow, and what do you suppose that helpis?" Elsie gazed earnestly at her mother, trying to think it out. But shewas compelled to shake her head after all. "I can't imagine, " she said. "Nothing but that some of the pollen shall be mixed with them, " saidher mother. "Oh, I see, I see!" Elsie cried delightedly. "That is why the stamenswith the pollen in them are right over the ovaries. " "Yes, dear, you have guessed it. The ripe pollen, falling into theripe ovary, would fertilize the seeds. And with some plants, theearlier and simpler kinds, this is just what happens. But here you cansee that the ovary is not ripe. It is hard and green. When it is ripeits color is yellow. But the pollen is ripe now, you can see it allover the anthers, as the knobs or sacks are called. If the pollenshould fall upon the ovary now it would roll off without entering, andwould be wasted. Now what do you suppose happens?" "The--the--" Elsie hesitated, looking with very bright eyes at her mother, almostsure enough to go on, but not quite. It seemed so peculiar, thethought that had come to her, and she did not see just how it couldbe. "You were going to say the bee, weren't you?" her mother smiled. "Oh yes--and would that have been right?" Elsie cried in delight. "Yes, that would have been exactly right. If we had been near enoughto examine the bee's motions closely we should have seen that healighted on the ovary, and then began to turn here and there in orderto get at the honey at the base of each petal. As he did so he brushedoff some of the pollen, for he was right in amongst the stamens, andthis powdery pollen stuck to his fuzzy body and he carried it awaywith him. " "But if he carried it away how could it get into the flower's ovary?"Elsie asked, puzzled. "It did not get into this flower's ovary, " her mother answered. "Nature did not intend that it should, and that is why the bee isintroduced. For the other buttercup that he flew to, or some otherone that he would visit afterward, would have its ovary ripe, and whenhe alighted on it in search of honey some of the pollen would bebrushed off his body right into this ovary that was all ready toreceive it. " "Oh! But what would happen then? The little baby buttercups wouldbegin to grow right away, mamma?" "Yes, the ovary would close up and the seeds would begin to grow, veryslowly. They would keep on growing until they were ripe and then theywould burst their covering and fall out on the ground. Those of themthat were fortunate enough to become embedded in the soil, so thatthey would not freeze in the winter, would come out in the spring aslittle plants, which would soon bring forth buttercups. That is theway with the wild flowers. But with the cultivated ones, likecucumbers, apples, beans, and the like, all of those that are valuablefor eating, we are careful to save the seeds and plant them where theywill be safe. Instead of leaving them to chance we make a garden andplant them in it where they will be snug and warm. " "And wouldn't the seeds grow, or the little plants come up, if the beehadn't gone to the flowers, mamma?" "No, darling, it is the bee, or some other insect, or the birds, thatmarry all the bright-colored plants in this way, as the wind marriesthe soberhued ones. Without these we should have no vegetation. " "But, mamma, marry! Why do you say they marry? I thought only men andwomen married. " "The marriage that takes place between men and women, dear, is only arepetition of the marriage of plants. Its object is the same--toreproduce the race. Plants began to marry long, long before men andwomen ever came on earth and have been doing it ever since, fortunately for us, because if they should give up the practice weshould have to follow suit. The earth would go back to the barrenstate in which it was before life came to it. " "It seems so strange, " said Elsie. "Why, I never heard of anything sofunny! A bee, just a little bee, and without him--" "Funny is scarcely the word, " Mrs. Edson smiled, "but it is certainlywonderful. The pumpkin, the bean, the pear, the squash, the orange, all the fruits and vegetables that we eat, and which the animals eat, must be fertilized in order to reproduce their kind, and all thefertilizing is done either by the wind, which blows the pollen fromone plant to another, or by birds and insects. But this is only asmall part of the secret I have to tell you, just the beginning. Thereare many more wonderful things to come than I have told you yet, but Ithink this is enough for the first time. You would better think overwhat you have heard until tomorrow, when I will tell you the nextstep, which is about the animals. There are four things in this lessonthat you must remember: "First, every male plant has at least one stamen, which bears pollen. "Second, every female plant has one ovary which contains seeds. "Third, the seeds in the ovary must be fertilized by the pollen in thestamens in order to be able to grow and bear children. "Fourth, flowers are fertilized by birds, insects and the wind. "Do you think you can remember all that, darling?" "Oh, yes, mamma, I'm sure I can!" said Elsie. She thought a moment andthen added: "It was very nice of that bumble-bee to mistake my nosefor a flower, I'm sure, for it was almost as if he should say, 'Doesn't she look sweet--there must be honey there!' But I guess hedidn't think I was very sweet when I almost scared him to death, poorfellow!" V THE FIRST LIFE ON EARTH The next day Elsie was so eager for the hour to come when she shouldlearn the secret of the animals that she had been waiting in thehammock quite a little while when her mother came down stairs and assoon as she appeared in sight Elsie clapped her hands joyously, cryingout: "Now I shall hear how the animals get their honey, sha'n't I, mumsey?But, mumsey, there isn't anything like the petals of a buttercup on ananimal, unless it's his ears--do animals have their honey there--wherethey join the body--like the buttercups?" Mrs. Edson could not help laughing at this funny notion. "No, darling, " she answered, "animals have no honey anywhere. In theplants there is honey because they must have something to attract theinsects to them, for they are rooted in the ground and can't movearound to carry their pollen to the other plants. And this pollen mustbe carried, you remember, for that is the way, and the only way, inwhich little ones are made to be born. So the flower has the honey inorder to pay the insect for marrying it. But animals can move around. They can go to each other and carry their own pollen, so they do notneed honey or anything but themselves to attract each other. Inanimals there is love instead of honey. They love each other, in theirway, and so come together and mingle their eggs and pollen. Only itis not called pollen in animals, as I said before. It is called_zoösperms_, pronounced 'zoo-o-sperms. ' That is another name that youmust not forget, for it is to the animal what pollen is to the plant. And in order that little animals may be born it is quite as necessarythat the zoösperms cover or fertilize the eggs, as, with the plants, it is for the pollen to fertilize the seeds. " "But, mamma, " said Elsie, wonderingly, "you said, I think, that everyplant had an ovary--" "No, darling, I said that every _female_ plant had an ovary. " "Oh, yes, female plant! That has an ovary, and every male plant has astamen, and I think you said that they must have, didn't you?" "Yes, dear, in order to reproduce their kind they must have--why?" "Well, then, does every male animal have a stamen and every female anovary?" "Certainly darling! And let me repeat that the products of the twomust be mingled in order to bring forth little animals. That is justwhat I am going to tell you about today. " "And do you mean, mamma, that honey in the plants grows into love inthe animals?" Elsie asked, her eyes very wide. "Oh, that is a very beautiful thought for my little girl to have!"Mrs. Edson exclaimed, smoothing Elsie's hair lovingly. "And, yes, thatis the truth, put very poetically. Love is sweet, like the honey thatit replaces--at least it is for us human beings. Probably with theanimals it is not of just the same quality that it is with us, forthey do not act as if it were, but at least the animals are animprovement on the plants in this respect, and the love that they feelfor each other finally evolves, in us, to become the sweet thing thatwe find it to be. " "Isn't that lovely--and so strange!" exclaimed Elsie. "Yes, darling, it is lovely, and very strange. There are various kindsof love, as well as various degrees of the same kind, but this is asubject a little too deep for us to take up just yet. What I wish nowis to teach you how the animals marry. And I will begin by saying thatall forms of reproduction, which is the name given to havingchildren, follow the same principle. The animals marry in a way thatis only a variation of the plant way, and men and women marry in a waythat is a variation of the plant and animal ways. But let us beginright, with the first appearance of life on earth. " "Yes, mamma, " Elsie cried eagerly. "But the _first_ life! That musthave been very, very long ago, wasn't it?" "It was so far back in the history of the world that we can scarcelymore than guess how long ago it must have been. We do not even knowwhere it first appeared or just how it came to be. Some scientistsbelieve that it occurred at the mouth of the Nile River, in Africa, inthe rich soil that the river deposits there when it overflows itsbanks. Others think it was in the sea, or along the shores of someocean in a tropical country. But we need not go into that here. Whatwe do know is that the hot sun, shining on a certain spot on the earthor sea, which was just in the right condition, produced the first bodycontaining life that the globe ever had, and that this body was only alittle speck of jelly-like substance, which we call protoplasm, pro-to-plas-m. The word means 'first growth', for it was the firstthing that ever appeared that was capable of growing. We also call ita cell. Now there was only one cell in the world. It had nocompanions. And what do you suppose happened?" "It must have been very lonesome, " suggested Elsie, sympathetically. "Yes, it must have been--certainly it must if it could feel or think. But, at all events, whether or not it did feel lonely, it began rightaway to make companions. Of course you can't think how it did that, can you, dear?" "I--I am afraid not, " Elsie hesitated. "Yet it was the very simplest way imaginable. It merely divided itselfinto two parts, each of which was just like the other. " "Oh!" exclaimed Elsie. "But, then, mamma, who could tell which was thefather or mother, and which was the child? Or were they just brotherand sister, or two brothers?" "There was not then what we now call 'sex', for that was only thebeginning of families, so to say, and it was very crude, as all thingsare when they are first started. But perhaps we might call one cellthe mother of the other, since it is always the female, and not themale, that brings forth children, though nobody could tell which wasthe mother and which was the child. " "Well, " said Elsie, "_that_ is the strangest thing yet!" "It seems so to us, because it is so different from our way ofreproducing, but it was the natural way, and the same process is goingon to this day. Even little girls are born in a manner which, thoughit appears very different, is the same in principle, as we shallsee. " "But, mamma, I thought that all living beings were obliged to have astamen or an ovary!" "So they are obliged, dear! This cell grew until it was too large andheavy to be supported by its structure, or lack of structure, and thenit fell apart. Force, or growth, was the stamen here, and the cellitself was the ovary. " "Oh, then force or growth was the first stamen, mamma?" "No, darling, it was not, unless we should call growth the stamen oftoday--which we might do, in a way. But the first stamen was, in form, a ray of the sun, and the first ovary was the earth, soil. For don'tyou recall that this cell, which was the first life-form, was producedby the sun shining on the earth or sea?" Elsie pondered on this a moment. Then her face brightened. "Oh, now I see!" she exclaimed. "And what a beautiful set of changes, like real poetry! The stamen in a flower, and growth, and a ray ofsunlight are all one at bottom!" "Yes, darling, it is beautiful poetry, when one comes thoroughly tounderstand it. And when we find that love is the source of all thesedifferent forms and processes it becomes more beautiful than ever. Nowlet us go on a little further and you will see how that is. " "Please hurry, mamma!" said Elsie. "I wish to find out where I camefrom, and you are going to tell me that, aren't you?" "Certainly, darling! That is what I have been leading up to all thistime. Now we will speak of a number of higher growths than the singlecells are, for there are several things yet to be made plain beforeyou will be able to understand the highest growth of all, which isthat of a human being like yourself. " VI WHERE BABY ANIMALS COME FROM At that moment there sounded a hoarse noise near by, which wasfollowed by a splash, as if some body had tumbled into the pond. Elsielooked at her mother roguishly and said: "Old Croaky!" Old Croaky was a granddaddy bullfrog with whom they were very wellacquainted, for he sang for them every evening. "I am glad that he spoke just as he did, " Mrs. Edson smiled, "for hereminds me that frogs are as good an example as I can take next. Hebelongs to one of the lower classes of animals, not so very muchhigher than the plants. Now, in the plants, you will remember, it wasnecessary for the pollen to enter the ovary in order to reach andfertilize the seeds. But with the frog it is not so. The female laysthe eggs first, and just as she is doing so the male places himself insuch a position towards her that he can mingle his zoösperms with hereggs as they come out. That fertilizes them and they immediately beginto grow. First they become tadpoles, and then little frogs. " "What, was Old Croaky ever a little tadpole, mumsey?" "Yes, darling, he was. Every frog was once. And before that he was anegg, one of many, in his mother's ovary, and it is so with allanimals. They all of them have eggs and zoösperms, just as the plantshave pollen and seeds. Only, with most of the animals, the zoöspermsmust enter the ovary in order to fertilize the eggs, as is the way ofthe plants. And it is the same with the birds. They are higher, thatis later, in the scale of life than the frogs are. Now the higher thecreature the more complicated becomes the process of reproduction, even though the principle is always the same. It is always growth, always the life within, forcing itself out to take form, and it isonly the forms that change. The life and force within are the samethat the first single cell had. " "It is very wonderful, mamma, " Elsie said, awed by the mystery, eventhough she was very far from grasping the whole of it. "And the birds, mamma, have they stamens, and eggs inside? I thought their eggs wereoutside, in a little nest. And some of them are, mumsey, because, youknow, I have seen them lots of times. " "Yes, the eggs come out where you can see them, in time, as the frog'sdo, but at first they are inside the mother bird, as they are with thefrogs and all animals. Only, it is not with the birds as it is withthe frogs, for the bird's eggs must be fertilized by the malezoösperms while they are still within the mother bird. The zoöspermsmust enter the ovary as the pollen must enter the ovary of the plant. So the male bird, like most male animals, has a stamen which is arepetition of that of the flower, made of such a shape that it canreach the eggs in the mother bird's ovary and fertilize them there. Then they come out, they are 'laid' as we say, and we see them in thenest which the mother and father birds have prepared for them. Andjust as the seeds need to be covered and kept warm, when they havefallen from the ripe pods to the ground, in order that they may liveand grow into baby plants, so the bird's eggs must be covered and keptwarm and safe in order that they may grow into birdies. It is justhere that you may see where the honey of the plants begins to becomelove in the higher species. For instead of leaving the eggs to beprotected or not, according to chance, as is the way of the plants, the mother bird covers and warms and protects them herself. She sitson the nest and keeps them safe with her own body and feathers. Isn'tthat lovely! And the father bird goes to market in the woods andfields and brings her the daintiest and best food he can find. " "Isn't he _nice!_" said Elsie appreciatively. "Yes, he is nice, and so is his wife, the mother bird. Just think! Abird is the most energetic and tireless creature in all animatednature. It is always on the move, urged by the force and overflowinglife within its body, and to sit there quietly all alone on the eggsday after day and night after night--oh, it must be hard, so hard thatwe can scarcely realize the extent of the sacrifice she is making forher little children. That is what love is like. And the higher acreature is in the scale of life the more love it has, until, in menand women, the acme is reached and they not only give up theircomfort for each other, and especially for their children, but eventheir lives themselves. With human beings one can tell how high agiven one is in the scale of humanity by the amount of love he has. Some persons have very little, and they are nearer the animal plane:some have a great deal, and the more they have, the less selfish theyare, the higher they have risen. For love is the real stamen thatfertilizes the world and makes it grow, and the more one has of it themore life one gives to the universe. " Elsie felt very grave for some moments, thinking out this deep matter. It was too complex for her to realize wholly, but she caught glimpsesof the immortal beauty of the ideas and she was awed by it. Suddenlyshe threw her arms around her mother's neck and kissed herpassionately. It had occurred to her all at once how much her motherloved her and how much she must have sacrificed for her sake duringall the years of her little life, and though she had no conception ofthe full extent of the sacrifice she saw enough to make her feel likecrying for very love of that dear and sweet mamma. Her motherunderstood her and taking her in her arms hugged her closely, sittingin silence with her for a long time, both of them too full of love foreach other to speak. And so the lesson for the day ended. VII WHERE BABY GIRLS COME FROM "Now, mumsey, " cried Elsie the next day, running to her mother at thehour set aside for their baby-talks, "I know what comes next--it's I, isn't it?" "Yes, darling, it's you. And it's I, too. Isn't that a beautifulthought, that you and I held the same relation to each other that themother bird holds to the egg from which the birdies come! For once youwere a tiny, tiny egg inside mamma just as it was with the birds. " "Oh-h!" gasped Elsie, gazing at her mother in bewilderment. She couldnot realize such an astounding thing at once. "Yes, darling, " Mrs. Edson went on, "every female human being has anovary, just as every female flower has, and just as every female birdhas; and, also like them, she has seeds or eggs in this ovary. And shehas a great many of them. They have been growing within her ever sinceshe was a baby, and when she is about twelve years old they begin toripen, one at a time, and pass from the ovary into a nest that is allready for them inside the female body. This nest we call the womb. Atfirst, while she is so young, the womb is not strong enough to holdthe egg while it grows, so the egg soon leaves its nest to come intothe world and be lost, as so very many seeds of the plant are. As itdoes so it acts in such a way on the young girl that, when she firstbecomes aware that something which seems strange is happening to her, she is frightened and does not know what to do. And as you, darling, are now at the age when this must come to you very soon, I am going toprepare you for it, so that you may know that it is natural, coming toall girls of about your age, and that there is nothing to be alarmedover. All the talks that we have had were intended as a kind ofintroduction to this event and its consequences, for it is thegreatest that enters a girl's life before she has grown fully to be awoman. And you were once one of these tiny eggs. More than that, younow have within your body, a great number of that very kind of eggsfrom which you sprang. " Elsie sat with her eyes in breathless interest on her mother, sofilled with wonder and speculation that she could not ask a singlequestion. Mrs. Edson proceeded: "I must repeat dear, because it is so very important for you toremember, that every woman has an ovary which contains many seeds oreggs, just as the female flower has. These eggs, if left unfertilized, will pass from the body and never grow any more. But each one, iffertilized by the papa, as the bird's eggs were, and as the flowerseeds were, will stay in a little nook inside the mother's body, whereit will grow and grow until the time comes for it to burst forth intothe world, following the same principle that the first cell followedin reproducing, and which all living things follow always. The lifewithin forces it away from the parent, to become a separate growth. Then it will come forth, and behold, the tiny seed or egg has grown tobe a baby girl or boy, weighing several pounds!" "Oh-h!" Elsie gasped again. "And that is how--how--I--came to be born, mamma!" "Yes, darlingest, it is the way in which every living person was born. There is not, and there cannot be, any other way. Each child is a partboth of its father and mother. The egg in the mother would never growinto a baby unless it had first been fertilized by the father, whodoes so through his great love for the mamma, just as with the birdsand animals, though his love is of a higher kind than that of thelower orders. " "And does the mother-woman warm the eggs as the bird in the nest does, mamma, while the papa-man brings her nice things to eat?" "Yes, dearie, only the mother-woman has the nest inside her body, as Ihave said, and she keeps the little one safe and warm there muchlonger than the bird sits on her nest. And think of all the yearsafter the baby is born that she waits on and cares for it! There is noother love that equals in devotion that of the mother. " Elsie, without a word, her eyes swimming in tears, kissed her motheraffectionately. She had realized a little more of what she owed toher. "Now, " said Mrs. Edson, "I must tell you how to care for this nest inwhich, by and by, when you have grown up and have a husband and arestrong enough, you will be keeping a little baby of your own. Becausemany girls who become married do not know these things there is adreadful amount of sickness and misery in the world, all needless. Andit does seem too bad--when merely a few words at the right time wouldhave saved it all!" Of course Elsie was not old enough to understand how this could be, soshe said nothing, but sat looking earnestly at her mother as she wenton: "In the first place, dear, you must know that the little baby's nest, which we call the womb, is placed in the lower portion of the woman'sbody, just above the 'private parts'. Perhaps it is put there becauseit is the safest place for it in the whole body--for the eggs andwomb are very delicate, and must not be exposed to any danger ofinjury. So it grows in the interior of the trunk, where outsidedangers would be less likely to reach and spoil it, so that the womanwould be sick all her life and never have any children. Many hopelessfemale complaints, ending with premature and painful death, are causedby lack of proper care of the womb and its entrance. That careconsists chiefly in preventing the womb from being touched byanything, and keeping the entrance clean. It is very simple--just keepthe entrance clean and the womb untouched by anything. An observanceof such slight rules as these would have saved many and many a poorsoul from a life of continual misery and suffering. "I have told you, dear, long ago how to keep the entrance clean. Andnow that you will soon begin to menstruate, as the passing out of theeggs is called, I shall have but little to add to what you alreadyknow, but I will repeat it from the beginning in order that you mayhave it all clear in your mind. "First, bathe the entrance every time you bathe the rest of your body, and at such other times as you may feel the need of doing so. Neverneglect this. It may have evil consequences. Just keep it clean, andnever touch it for any other purpose. And be careful to use only yourown towels, for disease is easily communicated to these parts bycloths that are not clean, and you never can be too careful in thisrespect. It is plain enough, and easy enough to do, isn't itdarling--and you will always remember about it, won't you?" "Oh, yes, mamma, that is easy enough!" Elsie said quickly. "I couldremember a lot more than that, I'm sure. " "It would have been so infinitely much better for so many poor sickcreatures if they had known and remembered even that!" Mrs. Edsonsighed, holding her little daughter closely, as if she would protecther from not only that harm but all others. "But, " she continued, "Imust now tell you what you may be expecting to come to you beforelong, when it will be harder to keep the entrance clean than it hasbeen so far, and when to keep it clean will be more necessary thanever. "Every twenty-eight days, dearie, beginning with you very soon now, there will be a flow of blood into the little baby's nest, the womb, and this will come out of your body through this entrance to the womb. As soon as you see any signs of it on your body or clothing you mustcome right and tell me, as you would if you had cut your finger orstubbed your toe on a stone. It is something to be very proud of forit shows the possibility of motherhood, and it must be given the verybest care, which is, as I have said, chiefly to keep the parts clean. By and by when you are grown old enough and strong enough, and have ahusband, who will fertilize the eggs, one of them will grow into alittle baby, but it will be a long time yet before that can be, anduntil then you will have this flow every twenty-eight days, for thesake of your health. This brings more work for the womb to do, whilethe menses, as they are called, continue, and therefore you may feelout of sorts both mentally and bodily for two or three days. But thiswill pass away when the flow ceases, and if proper care is taken ofthe womb and passages you will never feel anything worse than this. Some women feel great pain at this time, but almost always the reasonis that some of their internal parts have been injured in one way oranother. Sometimes lack of proper food, sufficient fresh air and sun, or not enough exercise and clean water are responsible for a portionof the pain. In order to have strong reproductive organs a womanshould be healthy in all bodily ways, and anything that she can do toimprove her general health will be favorable to her at the time ofthe menses as well as at all times. Do you think you understand allthis, darling, and can remember it?" "I don't know, mamma, " said Elsie hesitatingly. "There is a lot to it, but I'll try. " "That is my dear little girl! To try is the next thing to doing. Onlyremember that when you don't know what to do, and have tried, come tomamma. That is one great reason why mammas are--to help little girlswho have tried. " Elsie kissed her mother warmly, and then sat looking dreamily outtowards the woods. She had learned many strange things and wasthinking them over. Suddenly she spoke, as if unconsciously, saying:"Who would ever have thought that so much could come out of it!" "Out of what?" her mother asked. "Why, out of a bee trying to step on my nose!" said Elsie. (The End. )