The lessons to be learned from the birds are many. From them can be answered all questions, for now we have passed that most difficult of all points, the relation of father to child in the animal world, and everything else can be explained through the knowledge already gained. The well-taught child will recognize the justice and necessity for the existing processes of life. He will realize their deep meaning, their far-reaching influence, and their tremendous importance in preserving upon the earth the multitudes of living forms that inhabit it.
The flower and the bird are the two most important helps in imparting the facts concerning the renewal of life throughout nature.
XI
THE MAMMAL
The mother who has conducted the child through the various life forms up to the mammal will not be likely to wish to stop there. Having gone thus far, it will be easy to continue and reveal to the child the wonderful life that yet remains.
The question is often asked, whether country children are not much more likely to learn these truths naturally and without instruction than city children. The answer is that they are more likely to learn the facts, but knowing the facts is by no means understanding the subject; and whether knowledge of the facts is good or bad for the child depends entirely upon the impression it makes upon him. Undoubtedly the country child is in a better position to receive instruction, but whether this instruction tends to refine his feelings and elevate his heart depends altogether upon how it is given. Probably the average country boy has no more spiritual conception of the matter than the average city boy, though he may have a more wholesome and, so to speak, utilitarian thought of it. His interest at least reaches out to results, for the successful multiplication of the stock on the farm may be a matter of vital importance to him.
The extension of knowledge from the bird to the mammal may be made through the medium of the family pets. Fido, puss, the pet rabbits, or squirrels may serve to elucidate the subject. Indeed, at this stage the well-instructed child himself will be ready to give all the essential facts, and will feel free to ask questions concerning the facts he does not understand. If he has traced the continuity of the egg from the flower to the bird it will not be difficult for him to realize that even the higher animal has its origin in the same way. The mother can very reverently explain to him that the cat too has ovaries; that from these develop ova which are few in number and need very special care. They cannot be laid in a nest like the bird's egg. They are very tiny, no larger than the head of a small pin, and they have no hard shell.
It is their destiny to remain in the oviduct and develop. That is, instead of being born like the bird's egg and then being hatched, these eggs first develop and afterwards are born. But if not fertilized they would not continue to develop. The cat has two ovaries, which develop at maturity and ripen the ova, and these pass into the oviducts, which are tubes like the oviducts of the bird. Here the egg remains a certain length of time, and then if it is not fertilized it is passed away; but if it is fertilized a marvellous change takes place in this tiny cell: it remains within the oviduct and is there supplied with nourishment by blood-vessels essentially as the flower seed is supplied with food from the sap. Generally three or five of these ova develop at the same time, some in one oviduct, some in the other. When these tiny eggs have developed into kittens strong enough and perfect enough to make entrance into the world safe, they are born just as the egg is born. Unlike the oviduct of the bird, which opens into the intestine, these ducts unite just before the end, and have separate openings of their own.
As soon as the young are born the mother begins to care for them. For several weeks they depend upon the milk she secretes for their food, and upon her constant care and loving watchfulness for their life. The thought of parental love and care should be much more strongly emphasized at every step than the mere physical facts, though it is necessary that they too be clearly comprehended. The sacrifice of the parent for the child is one of the most universal and unselfish facts of life, and many stories illustrating it can be collected and told. It is not necessary to tell them as obviously pointing a moral, yet they should be told as dramatically and interestingly as possible, that the child may get a strong impression of this great force. Among mammals it is true, (but this need not be dwelt upon with the child,) that many males pay no attention to their offspring; though some, as the cattle, defend the females and young if a herd is attacked by savage animals, by putting them in the centre and themselves forming a circle about them. It is the mother love and care, however, which are here most prominent; but the child who knows the facts concerning paternity should not be allowed to forget the great factor of inheritance, and that the offspring gets its characteristics from the father as well as from the mother.