Little 5-year-old Bobby sat playing in the sand pile one lovely afternoon in May, and, judging by the glimpses his mother had of him through the open door of their cottage, his mind was to all appearances intent on making a sand fish perfect. For in and out the damp sand was thrown from the pile to the fish mold many times, until at last being perfect, at least to his satisfaction, he got up and ran to find his mother, who was busy within the small two-room shack where they were living for the summer.
He caught hold of her apron to attract her attention, and said: “Mother, where did I come from?”
Needless to say, his mother was greatly surprised at this question, just at that time, for she had not the faintest idea that his thoughts were on anything but the perfection of that sand fish. However, she quickly recovered from her surprise and taking his little face between her hands, said:
“Bobby, dear, that is the most wonderful secret in all the world, and if you are quite sure you can keep this secret and only talk about it to father and mother, I’ll tell you all about it.”
The curly head bobbed up and down in answer to this and as his eyes grew big and bright, he answered:
“Do tell me the secret mother, I’ll never tell.”
Then she said: “Let me ask you a question, dear. Do you know where the baby flowers come from? Or the baby birds or chickens or all the baby creatures in the world?”
“No, no,” he answered simply, but excitedly.
Then she told him that as soon as the dishes were put away, she would take him for a walk in the woods where the baby flowers come from, where the mother kept them when they were baby seeds and also tell him how the father and mother flower gave life to the little baby seeds, which afterward grew into the lovely flowers we see all about us. She would show him that he was once a little seed like the flower seed and kept in a soft little nest in the same way.