5. A. What is botany, papa?
6. F. Botany, my dear, is the knowledge of plants.
7. A. Some plants are very beautiful. If the lily were growing in our fields, I should not complain. But this ugly nettle! I do not know what beauty or use there can be in that.
8. F. And yet, Nanny, there is more beauty, use, and instruction in a nettle, than even in a lily.
9. A. O papa, how can you make that out?
10. F. Put on your gloves, pluck up that nettle, and let us examine it. First, look at the flower.
11. A. The flower, papa? I see no flower, unless those little ragged knobs are flowers, which have neither color nor smell, and are not much larger than the heads of pins.
12. F. Here, take this magnifying glass and examine them.
13. A. Oh, I see now; every little knob is folded up in leaves, like a rosebud. Perhaps there is a flower inside.
14. F. Try; take this pin and touch the knob. Well, what do you see?