“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!” 53
“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.”