"There was not then what we now call 'sex', for that was only the beginning of families, so to say, and it was very crude, as all things are when they are first started. But perhaps we might call one cell the mother of the other, since it is always the female, and not the male, that brings forth children, though nobody could tell which was the 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 of reproducing, but it was the natural way, and the same process is going on to this day. Even little girls are born in a manner which, though it appears very different, is the same in principle, as we shall see." "But, mamma, I thought that all living beings were obliged to have a stamen or an ovary!" "So they are obliged, dear! This cell grew until it was too large and heavy to be supported by its structure, or lack of structure, and then it fell apart. Force, or growth, was the stamen here, and the cell itself 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 of today--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't you recall that this cell, which was the first life-form, was produced by 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 of sunlight are all one at bottom!" "Yes, darling, it is beautiful poetry, when one comes thoroughly to understand it. And when we find that love is the source of all these different forms and processes it becomes more beautiful than ever. Now let 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 came from, and you are going to tell me that, aren't you?" "Certainly, darling! That is what I have been leading up to all this time. Now we will speak of a number of higher growths than the single cells are, for there are several things yet to be made plain before you will be able to understand the highest growth of all, which is that of a human being like yourself." VI WHERE BABY ANIMALS COME FROM At that moment there sounded a hoarse noise near by, which was followed by a splash, as if some body had tumbled into the pond. Elsie looked at her mother roguishly and said: "Old Croaky!" Old Croaky was a granddaddy bullfrog with whom they were very well acquainted, for he sang for them every evening.