Daddy Blake came hurrying out of the house as Mab called. Hal, who was anxiously looking to see if any of his corn had come up, ran over to his sister.
"What is the matter?" asked Mr. Blake. "Did Roly-Poly come home and scratch in your garden?"
"No. But look at my beans!" wailed Mab. "They're all upside down."
It did seem so. Along the rows she had so carefully planted in her garden could be seen some light green stems, some of them curved like the letter U upside down. And sticking out of the brown earth were the beans, split open in two halves.
"Who did it?" asked Mab, tears in her eyes.
Daddy Blake looked and laughed.
"Did you do it?" his little girl wanted to know. "Did you upside down my beans, Daddy Blake?"
"No, Mother Nature did that for you, Mab."
"Then I don't like Mother Nature!"
"But she had to," explained Daddy Blake. "All the beans I know anything about grow that way. After the bean is planted the heart or germ inside starts to sprout, and sends the root downward. At the same time the leaves begin to grow upward and they take with them the outside husk of the bean which is of no more use. The plant wants to get rid of it, you see, and as there is no room under ground for it, where it might be in the way of the roots, the leaves bring it up with them. For a time after the bean has been pushed out of the ground it keeps the tender leaves from being hurt. Then the bean dries and drops off—that is all that is left of it, for the germ, or heart, has started growing another plant, you see.