The Stories Mother Nature Told Her ChildrenAndrews, Jane
History
The Stories Mother Nature Told Her Children
Andrews, Jane
Natural history -- Juvenile literature
If we go to the wet meadows and stream-sides, we shall find how the
scarlet cardinal has packed away its minute seeds in a pretty little box
with two or three partings inside; and the cowslip has a cluster of oval
bags as full as they can hold.
Among the rocks, hairballs have their tiny five-parted chests; and the
columbine, its standing group of narrow brown sacks, which show, if we
open them, hundreds of tiny seeds.
But in the woods, the oak has stored her treasures in the acorn; the
chestnut, in its bur which holds the nut so safely. The walnut and beech
trees have also their hard, safe caskets, and the boys who go nutting
know very well what is inside.
Autumn is the time to open these treasures. It takes all the spring and
summer to prepare them, and some even need all of September too, before
they are ready to open the little covers. But go into the garden and
orchard, into the meadows and woods, and you have not far to look before
finding enough to prove that the plants, no less than the children, have
treasures to keep, and often most charming boxes to keep them in.
A PEEP INTO ONE OF GOD'S STOREHOUSES
Once there was a father who thought he would build for his children a
beautiful home, putting into it every thing they could need or desire
throughout their lives. So he built the beautiful house; and any one
just to look at the outside of it would exclaim, How lovely! For its
roof was a wide, blue dome like the sky, and the lofty rooms had arching
ceilings covered with tracery of leaves and waving boughs. The floors
were carpeted with velvet, and the whole was lighted with lamps that
shone like stars from above. The sweetest perfumes floated through the
air, while thousands of birds answered the music of fountains with their
songs. And yet, when you have seen all this, you have not seen the best
part of it: for the house has been so wonderfully contrived, that it is
full of mysterious closets, storehouses, and secret drawers, all locked
by magic keys, or fastened by concealed springs; and each one is filled
with something precious or useful or beautiful to look at,--piles upon
piles, and heaps upon heaps of wonderful stores. Every thing that the
children could want, or dream of wanting, is laid up here; but yet they
are not to be told any thing about it. They are to be put into this
delightful home, and left to find it all out for themselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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