"Well, Ernest, I shall leave you to point them out."
"Without reckoning the faculty of feeling, that cannot be denied to the one nor granted to the other, the most striking of these distinctions consists in the circumstance that animals can change place, whilst this faculty is absolutely refused to plants."
"If we except those," remarked Jack, "that insist upon travelling to the succulent parts of the earth, and are as indefatigable in digging tunnels as the renowned Brunel."
"Then plants are obliged to accept the nourishment that their fixed position furnishes to them; whilst animals, on the contrary, by means of their external organs, can range far and near in search of the aliments most congenial to their appetites."
"Which is often very capricious," remarked Willis.
"Then, considered with regard to magnitude, the two kingdoms present remarkable distinctions; the interval between a whale and a mite is greater than between the moss and the oak."
"Ho!" cried Jack, "there is Miss Sophia coming to meet us, Willis."
"Perhaps they have news at the grotto."
"Well," inquired the child, "have you seen them?"
"Good," thought Becker, "our chatterers have not been able to hold their tongues; I am surprised at that as regards Frank."