Part of the particles in the frosted vine do not become gases; they let go of other particles and sink down as minerals, to be taken up by plant roots another season. Other parts lie on the earth in the form of rich vegetable mould, which is also taken and built into new plants. So when our morning-glory or nasturtium vine disappears, it is not lost; it has only changed its form. Instead of being a nasturtium, its particles may find themselves built into a dozen different plants. So what we call death is only change. Not an atom of any plant is lost. Besides, if no plants changed back again into gases and minerals, there could be no growth and no flowers in the world. There would be no material to make new plants, and no room for new plants to grow. [Illustration: [Flower]] There would be no room for seeds to sprout and no need of seeds, so the plants, which never do anything that is not necessary, would not make any seeds; and if there were no seeds, there would be no flowers. What a dreary earth it would be if plants never changed—if they never, as we say, died! The same old plants living forever,—no flowers, no opening buds, no tender spring green, no bright autumn colors. It is good that the plants die, or change, as I prefer to call it. NOTHING BUT LEAVES. [Illustration: [Leaves]] After all, that is what a rose is,—nothing but leaves; and what a violet is and a lily and a nasturtium and a honeysuckle and all the flowers you can name. You do not believe it? That is because you know so _very_ little about leaves. When you know more, you will believe it, see if you do not. Perhaps when you know where the flowers came from and how they came to be flowers at all, you will change your mind about several things. Anyway, there is one thing you do know, because you have studied geography and about the stars and about the earth’s crust and all that. You know that once upon a time there were no flowers in all the round old earth. You do _not_ know it? Why, of course you do. You know that once upon a time there was no life on the earth, at least not what we call life now. It was so hot _nothing_ could live, not even a salamander, which they say lives in the fire, although, of course, this is not true, and it could no more live in the fire than you could. Well, we are told that once the earth was about as hot as the sun is now,—just a mass of blazing gases and melted rocks and metals. You would not have known it if you could have seen it, and, what is more, you would not have wanted to see it; you would have been afraid to come near enough. You could not have found Lake Michigan on it nor even the Atlantic Ocean nor the Rocky Mountains, and the reason you could not have found them is, they were not there. There was no Lake Michigan and no Atlantic Ocean and no Rocky Mountains.