“The marriage that takes place between men and women, dear, is only a repetition of the marriage of plants. Its object is the same—to reproduce the race. Plants began to marry long, long before men and women ever came on earth and have been doing it ever since, fortunately for us, because if they should give up the practice we should have to follow suit. The earth would go back to the barren state in which it was before life came to it.”
“It seems so strange,” said Elsie. “Why, I never heard of anything so funny! A bee, just a little bee, and without him—”
“Funny is scarcely the word,” Mrs. Edson smiled, “but it is certainly wonderful. The pumpkin, the bean, the pear, the squash, the orange, all the fruits 41 and vegetables that we eat, and which the animals eat, must be fertilized in order to reproduce their kind, and all the fertilizing is done either by the wind, which blows the pollen from one plant to another, or by birds and insects. But this is only a small part of the secret I have to tell you, just the beginning. There are many more wonderful things to come than I have told you yet, but I think this is enough for the first time. You would better think over what you have heard until tomorrow, when I will tell you the next step, which is about the animals. There are four things in this lesson that 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. 42
“Third, the seeds in the ovary must be fertilized by the pollen in the stamens 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 and then added: “It was very nice of that bumble-bee to mistake my nose for 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 he didn’t think I was very sweet when I almost scared him to death, poor fellow!”