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The Spark of Life 
 
The Edivard Bok Books of Self- 
 Knowledge for Young People 
 
 and Parents 
 Edited by EDWARD BOK 
 
 The constant aim of this graded series is to 
 be anticipatory. Each separate treatise is con- 
 cise, lucid, never suggestive beyond the age 
 limit. Each, limp cloth, net 25 cents. 
 
 FOR PARENTS 
 
 /. How Shall I Tell My Child? A Little 
 Book for Parents by Mrs. Woodallen Chapman. 
 
 FOR BOYS 
 
 2. When a Boy Becomes a Man. A Little 
 Book for Boys by H. Bisseker, M. A. 
 
 FOR YOUNG MEN 
 
 3. Instead of Wild Oats. A Little Book for 
 the Youth of Eighteen and Over, by Winfield 
 Scott Hall, M. D. 
 
 FOR YOUNG CHILDREN 
 
 4. The Spark of Life. The Story of How 
 Living Things Came Into the World. As Told 
 for Boys and Girls, by Margaret W. Morley. 
 
 FOR GIRLS 
 
 5. The Changing Girl. A Little Book for the 
 Girl of Ten to Fifteen, by Caroline Latimer, 
 M. D., M. A. 
 
THE EDWARD BOK BOOKS 
 
 Of Self-Knowledge for Parents and Young People 
 Of Which This Is Number Four 
 
 The Spark of Life 
 
 The Story of How Living 
 Things Come Into the World 
 
 As Told For Girls And Boys 
 
 By 
 MARGARET W. MORLEY 
 
 Author of "The Song of Life" etc. 
 
 With a Foreword 
 BY EDWARD BOK 
 
 Editor of the Ladies' Home Journal 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 TORONTO 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 LONDON 
 
 EDINBURGH 
 
Copyright, 1913, by 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 125 North Wabash Ave. 
 Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W. 
 London: 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street 
 
Contents 
 
 A FOREWORD ..... 7 
 
 I. THE AMAZING WORLD OF SEEDS . . 9 
 
 II. THE STORY OF THE FLOWERS . . 12 
 
 III. WHY WHITE SWEET PEAS BECOME 
 
 PURPLE . . . . 17 
 
 IV. WHY PUMPKINS Do NOT GROW ON 
 
 ROSE-BUSHES .... 25 
 
 V. WHY THE BUTTERFLY LAYS ITS EGGS 
 
 ON A LEAF . . . . 3 1 
 
 VI. How FISH LAY THEIR EGGS IN WATER 39 
 
 VII. WHY BIRDS GROW INSIDE OF SHELLS . 43 
 
 VIII. How PRIZE CHICKENS AND FANCY 
 
 PIGEONS ARE BROUGHT ABOUT . 51 
 
 IX. How KITTENS START FROM EGGS . 55 
 
 263703 
 
 [5] 
 
A Foreword 
 
 NO parent can truthfully say again : 
 " No one has ever told the story of 
 life simple enough for a child to un- 
 derstand. " For here it is, told as simply and 
 beautifully as I have ever seen it told any- 
 where. It is astonishing how easily the author 
 takes us through the wide sweep of worlds 
 that she does : the world of flowers, of vege- 
 tables, of insects, of birds, of fish, of animals, 
 and at not a single point does the interest lag 
 or does the beauty of the wonderful story 
 lessen. The value of the little book is, too, 
 that it may be read by the parent, and from 
 memory told the child, or read to the child,, 
 or read by the child itself. To either method 
 does it lend itself ; to one as readily as to the 
 other. It never gets " above the head " of the 
 child, as we say ; or does it drop beneath the 
 interest of the elder. 
 
 Miss Morley has in "The Spark of Life" 
 really written a model little book of its kind, 
 and one that is not unlikely to be regarded as 
 the standard little work in its class. 
 
 EDWAED BOK. 
 
 Philadelphia, 
 
 January, 1913. 
 
 [7] 
 
THE AMAZING WORLD OF SEEDS 
 
 SEEDS, seeds ! Everywhere we look we 
 find the seeds. 
 Here is a bright red apple. We cut 
 it open, and there in the middle is the core a 
 tough little box filled with seeds little black 
 apple seeds. 
 
 Here is a golden pear. How good it smells ! 
 Cut it open and there is the core filled with 
 pear seeds. And in the core of the quince we 
 find of course quince seeds. 
 
 We open a peach, and we find a core as hard 
 as wood. We call it the pit or stone, and in- 
 side the peach pit is one peach seed. Here is 
 a handful of ripe plums. In the middle of 
 each is the plum pit with the seed inside. 
 When cherries are ripe we throw the cherry 
 stones on the ground, each with its seed safe 
 inside. 
 
 The tough cores and the hard pits hold the 
 seeds in safe-keeping. For the seeds are im- 
 portant. They are alive. They are the eggs 
 of the plants, and if they get a chance they 
 will hatch out sprout we call it into tiny 
 plants that grow and grow and in time bear 
 flowers and seeds. 
 
 [9] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 Open a bean pod beans, that is to say, seeds, 
 are inside. And it is the same with the pea 
 pod ; when we open it we find the peas which 
 are the seeds of the pea vine. 
 
 There are the tiny dandelion seeds sailing 
 about like little air-ships. They do not grow 
 in pods. You blow them off the top of the 
 stem when they are ripe, and away they sail, 
 for each little seed has a pretty parasol over 
 its head that the wind strikes and so blows it 
 along. Lettuce seeds sail in the same way, 
 and in the summer and autumn you will find a 
 great many other kinds of seeds sailing about. 
 Sometimes the air is full of them, some quite 
 big, and some very small. The wind blows 
 them far and wide. Down from the maple 
 tree whirl the pretty keys and what are these 
 but seeds with wings? The seed of the elm 
 tree also has its wings, and the wind whirls 
 them away. 
 
 You think a nut is just a nut. It really is 
 a seed. The hard shell protects the soft seed 
 inside. When we eat a nut we eat a seed, 
 which is just a young little nut tree. Every 
 time we eat a chestnut we eat a very tiny 
 chestnut tree. Every time we eat a peanut, 
 we eat a little peanut vine. 
 
 When we eat the sweet corn from the cob 
 we are eating corn seeds, for each kernel is a 
 seed. And corn bread is made of the ripe 
 [10] 
 
The Amazing World of Seeds 
 
 seeds of the corn. A grain of wheat is also a 
 seed. The ;rice grain is a seed. Oats are 
 seeds. All the grains we use are seeds. 
 
 If you want a flower garden you plant flower 
 seeds. Morning-glory seeds grow on the morn- 
 ing-glory vines, and nasturtium seeds come 
 from the nasturtium plants, and pink seeds 
 from pinks, and poppy seeds from poppies. 
 
II 
 
 THE STORY OF THE FLOWERS 
 
 IF a seed is to sprout, it must be kept warm 
 and moist, and when the little plant starts 
 to grow it must have the food it needs. 
 For plants eat. Every living thing eats. 
 Plants have mouths in their tiny rootlets down 
 in the ground and in their leaves. They must 
 have good food in the earth for their roots to 
 eat. 
 
 A boy named Johnny planted his seeds in 
 the hard and stony corner by the front steps. 
 His little sister Molly planted hers in a corner 
 of the garden. Johnny's seeds scarcely 
 sprouted. Molly's came up quickly. Their 
 father said : ' ' Johnny, your seeds are starving, 
 that is the trouble. They need better food. " 
 So Johnny planted some more seeds in the 
 garden and they sprouted well. Soon a great 
 many little green plants came up with the 
 young flowers. 
 
 ' ' These, ' ' father said, * ' are weeds ; you must 
 pull them up." 
 
 But Molly said, "They are such pretty 
 little things I shall leave them." 
 
 Johnny pulled the weeds out of his garden 
 
 [12] 
 
The Story of the Flowers 
 
 as fast as they came up, but Molly let hers 
 alone. 
 
 After a while Johnny's garden was full of 
 flowers. The plants were large and strong and 
 covered with bright blossoms. It smelled 
 sweet, and bees on gauzy wings buzzed about 
 and gathered honey from the gay flowers, and 
 butterflies danced over them and tasted the 
 honey from their pretty cups. 
 
 And Molly's garden I There was hardly a 
 flower to be seen in hers. The weeds had 
 grown faster than the flowers and smothered 
 them. The flowers were starved because the 
 strong weeds had taken away the food out of 
 the ground. They looked so small and puny 
 that Molly felt like crying when she looked at 
 them. " I thought the pretty little weeds had 
 as good a right to grow as the flowers, " she 
 said. " But they don't play fair. They take 
 everything. I am going to pull them up," 
 and she caught hold of a big one and gave it a 
 jerk. It came hard but it came at last. But 
 with it came ever so many little portulacas 
 they were no bigger across than a penny 
 although Johnny's portulacas were big, and 
 all covered with gay flowers. Fourteen little 
 portulacas came up with the roots of that big 
 weed that had twined all among their little 
 roots. But this isn't all. Back of the portu- 
 laca border was a border of sweet alyssum 
 
 ['3] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 and six of them came up too, and back of the 
 sweet alyssum was a border of sweet peas and 
 three or four of them were also entangled in 
 the roots of the weed. 
 
 " It is worse than I thought, " said Molly in 
 despair. 
 
 "Go slow !" said father. 
 
 So Molly pulled the next weed more care- 
 fully, but by the time she got the weeds all 
 out Johnny said her garden looked moth-eaten. 
 Only about half of her plants were left and they 
 were tall, weak-stemmed things with few leaves 
 and fewer flowers they could not stand alone, 
 having depended so long upon leaning against 
 the weeds that were devouring them. But in 
 time they looked better, although Molly's 
 garden did not amount to much that season. 
 
 " Just wait till next year ! " said Molly. 
 
 "Meantime, let us find out a little more 
 about how plants grow, 77 said the children's 
 father, and they talked about it a great deal. 
 Molly and Johnny were astonished to find that 
 plants are really very particular about what 
 they eat. That one kind of plant for instance 
 grows best when there is a substance called 
 lime in the earth, while another kind dies if 
 there is lime. That some plants thrive best in 
 sandy soil, while others cannot grow in the 
 sand, that some need a great deal of moisture, 
 while others can live only where it is very dry. 
 * [14] 
 
The Story of the Flowers 
 
 Apples need a cold climate, oranges cannot 
 stand frost ; and so it goes. If we are to suc- 
 ceed with our plants we must know what kind 
 of soil to plant them in, whether they like a 
 shady place or a sunny place, whether they 
 need to be kept moist or dry or hot or cold. 
 And since they breathe we must give them 
 plenty of clean air. Plants do not grow well 
 in a house where there is gas or smoke in the 
 room. Tobacco smoke will kill some plants 
 very quickly. 
 
 " All these surroundings of the plant," 
 father told them, " the food, the air, the light, 
 the temperature, everything that influences its 
 growth, we call by one word environment. 
 The success of the plant," he added, " depends 
 upon its environment. If the plant does not 
 do well we say there is something wrong 
 with its environment, and we try to find out 
 where the trouble is, and remedy it if we 
 can." 
 
 Molly wanted to know if caterpillars and 
 grasshoppers and snails formed a part of the 
 environment of a plant. "Yes," said father, 
 " if those insects swarm in a region, that region 
 forms a poor environment for plants to grow 
 in. Anything that constantly harms or des- 
 troys makes a poor environment. A good 
 environment is a place where everything helps 
 instead of hinders." 
 
 * 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 " The greenhouse makes a good environment 
 for our geraniums/ 7 said Molly. 
 
 " Yes, and a snow-bank would be a mighty 
 bad environment for them,' 7 answered Johnny. 
 
 " Yet .there are plants," said father, " that 
 live under the snow and would die in the 
 greenhouse. 77 
 
 [16] 
 
Ill 
 
 WHY WHITE SWEET PEAS BECOME 
 PURPLE 
 
 41 F A HEBE is something very important 
 besides environment in making a 
 JL garden," father said one summer 
 day when the children were getting ready to 
 gather their flower seeds. " Gather only the 
 best seeds from the best plants. You must 
 select your seeds with care. If you plant 
 small, weak seeds, you will be likely to get 
 small, weak plants. Choose your seeds from 
 the handsomest and best flowers. 7 ' 
 
 "Yes," said Molly, "I have taken all my 
 sweet pea seeds from those lovely deep red 
 ones. I like them best and next year I shall 
 have a long row of them." 
 
 " I have gathered seeds from the white sweet 
 peas," said Johnny, "and those lilac and blue 
 ones that mother likes so much. We will have 
 a fine" garden next year. Good soil, good care, 
 plenty of water, no weeds and " 
 
 "A good environment," interrupted Molly. 
 
 44 That's right," said father. "A good en- 
 vironment and good big, strong seeds; what 
 more' could any one ask *? " 
 
 But next summer when the sweet peas bios- 
 [V] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 somed Molly was disappointed because her 
 pea vines did not bear red flowers. There 
 were some red flowers, it is true, but many that 
 were white, or pink or blue, and these colours 
 combined in the same flower. 
 
 Johnny was no better off. Although he was 
 sure he had gathered seeds from only the white 
 and pale blue and lavender flowers, his vines 
 blossomed out in the colours of all the sweet 
 peas. 
 
 " What can you do if you plant the seeds of 
 red flowers and they bear white flowers?" 
 Molly asked disconsolately. 
 
 Father shook his head. " There must be 
 something about this we don't understand, "he 
 said. " Let us see if we can get the flowers to 
 tell us their secret. It is in the flower we must 
 look for the seeds, you know," and father 
 carefully opened a sweet pea blossom. Sure 
 enough, in the centre of the flower was a tiny 
 green pod with the merest pin- heads of seeds in 
 it. " Those little seeds are each fastened to the 
 pod, you see, by a little stem," father said, 
 showing them how it was. "It is through 
 this stem that the blood of the plant or the sap, 
 as we call it, comes to the seed to nourish it. 
 It grows on this sap until it is ready to leave 
 the plant and start growing on its own account. 
 We call this young seed the ovule, and the pod 
 we call the ovary." 
 
 [18] 
 
Why White Peas Become Purple 
 
 "Does the ovary hold the ovule?" asked 
 Johnny. 
 
 "It does/ 7 said father. "Into the ovule, 
 through the little stem that fastens it to the 
 ovary, comes the good sap to nourish the seed. 
 
 4 ' Then the ovule grows. It becomes a per- 
 fect pea, ripe and ready to sprout. But besides 
 nourishment it has taken something else from 
 the mother plant. It has taken the nature of 
 the mother plant. When it grows it will make 
 a plant just like the mother plant, the same 
 kind of stem and leaves and flowers. Every 
 sweet pea vine seed will grow into a sweet 
 pea vine. Every morning-glory seed will 
 grow into a morning-glory vine, every apple 
 seed will grow into an apple tree. The seeds 
 never make a mistake. When you plant 
 corn, you know what will come up. When 
 you plant marigold seeds in your garden you 
 are sure that marigolds will grow from them. 
 All the seeds grow into plants like the mother 
 plant" 
 
 " That is because the seeds are the children 
 of the plants, I suppose, 77 said Molly, "and 
 children must be like their parents. 77 
 
 "Yes, but why did my white sweet pea seeds 
 have purple flowers'? 77 demanded Johnny. 
 
 " Well, 7 7 said his father, " now that we have 
 it settled that sweet pea seeds come from sweet 
 pea vines and grow into other sweet pea vineSy 
 
 [19] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 perhaps we can find out why the sweet peas 
 are not all alike, but first we must understand 
 a little more about heredity. There comes 
 mother ; she can help us. Come, mother, we 
 are talking about heredity." 
 
 Molly, making room for mother at her side 
 on the garden bench, gave her hand a little 
 squeeze as she cuddled close up to her and 
 asked : 
 
 " What is heredity V 
 
 "It is inheriting, 77 said father, "not lands 
 or money, but your looks and your shape and 
 your way of moving, and even to an extent 
 your habits and way of thinking from your 
 parents. " 
 
 "That is why I inherit blue eyes from 
 mother, 77 said Johnny. 
 
 "And I curly hair from father, 77 said 
 Molly. 
 
 "Yes, but you inherit something better than 
 that from him, 77 added mother. "A good 
 mind and a kind heart. 77 
 
 " Well," said father, "if that is so, you have 
 a double inheritance of those good qualities, 
 for you get them also from mother. 77 
 
 " Well, then, 77 said Johnny, "Molly and I 
 and little Tom have what you call a good 
 heredity and a good environment. 77 
 
 " Yes, 77 replied father, " I think you have. 
 
 "But now about those purple peas. Just 
 
 [20] 
 
White Peas Become Purple 
 
 look into the sweet pea blossom and see the 
 little pockets filled with flower dust, pollen we 
 call it." 
 
 " Oh, I know about pollen, 77 said Molly 
 " bees gather it into the little baskets on their 
 hind legs, and they make it into little balls by 
 mixing it with honey and they carry it to 
 the hive and store it away to feed the baby 
 bees. 77 
 
 "Yes, it is the bee-bread, 77 said Johnny, 
 " and all flowers have pollen. I know how it 
 shakes out of the goldenrod in clouds. 77 
 
 " Yes, " went on mother, " and don 7 1 you re- 
 member what funny brown noses you got from 
 smelling the tiger lilies'? 77 
 
 "I remember,' 7 said Molly, "how funny 
 Tommy looked with his little face, nose, cheeks 
 and forehead smeared over with brown pollen. 77 
 
 "Do you remember where the pollen came 
 from ? 77 asked father. 
 
 "I do, 77 said Molly; "it came from the 
 anther pockets on the tips of the long slender 
 stamens that reached way out of the flower. 77 
 
 " All the flowers have these anther pockets 
 full of pollen, 77 said Johnny. 
 
 "The bees take the pollen/ 7 added mother, 
 "but the pollen was not made for the bees, 
 It was made for the good of the plant itself. 77 
 
 "What good can that dust do the plant? 7 ' 
 asked Johnny. 
 
 [21] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 "It was the pollen that made your sweet 
 peas purple," father answered. 
 
 Johnny opened his eyes wide at this. "It 
 does seem strange, doesn't it, yet it is true,' 7 
 father went on. " If you were to look at the 
 pollen under the microscope you would find it 
 made up of tiny grains, like little seeds. In a 
 way, it is little seeds." 
 
 " Can we plant them ? " asked Molly. 
 
 " No," said father ; " they cannot grow until 
 they have entered into the seed and become a 
 part of it. " 
 
 "How can it enter into the seed?" asked 
 Johnny. 
 
 " Look again at the tiny pod in the heart of 
 the flower. You see that it ends in a little 
 sticky point called the stigma. Now when a 
 pollen grain touches this little sticky stigma 
 it is held fast, and soon grows down into the 
 pod, and finds its way into an opening in the 
 little ovule. When this happens, the ovule 
 begins to grow into a perfect seed. Without 
 the pollen the ovule could not grow. Without 
 the ovule the pollen grain could not grow. 
 Both are needed. This union of the pollen 
 with the ovule," said father, " we call fertiliza- 
 tion. If the ovule is not fertilized it soon with- 
 ers and dies. " 
 
 "Does the pollen inherit 1 ?" asked Molly. 
 
 " Oh, yes, the pollen and the ovule both 
 
 [22] 
 
White Peas Become Purple 
 
 inherit. If the pollen and the ovule both came 
 from a white sweet pea what kind of sweet pea 
 will grow from that seed f " 
 
 " Oh, I see/' said Johnny ; " a white sweet 
 pea will come, but if the pollen came from a red 
 sweet pea to the ovule of a white sweet pea, we 
 might get a red sweet pea seed from a white 
 pea vine." 
 
 "Now you've got it, 77 said father. "That 
 is all there is to it. If the pollen of a red pea- 
 unites with the ovule of a white one, then the 
 plant that grows from the new seed may bear 
 flowers that inherit the red colour from the 
 pollen, or they may inherit the white colour 
 from the ovule." 
 
 " And that is why some are red and white," 
 said Johnny. "The seed inherits from both 
 parents. 7 ' 
 
 " Just so.' 7 agreed father. 
 
 "Is the pod with the seeds the mother, and 
 the pollen the father? " asked Molly. 
 
 " Yes," said mother ; " that is a pretty way 
 to think of it." 
 
 " Now, how does the pollen from a red flower 
 get to the stigma of a white one ? " father 
 wanted to know. 
 
 The children thought a while. Finally,, 
 Johnny asked, "The bees *? ' 
 
 "Eight again," said father. "When the 
 bees go from flower to flower they touch against 
 
 [23] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 the stigma and leave some of the pollen grains 
 that have clung to their hairy bodies. " 
 
 "It is too bad," said Molly, "for the bees 
 to mix up our flowers that way. We ought to 
 put a net over them to keep the troublesome 
 things out. " 
 
 "No, no, child,' 7 laughed mother ; "if you 
 did that, you might not have any seeds at all. 77 
 
 "Why not, mother? The pollen is in the 
 flower close to the stigma. Why would it not 
 shake out over it when ripe f " 
 
 " For a very good reason. The flower does 
 not want its own pollen. It wants the pollen 
 from another plant and so the stigma is hidden 
 in the flower. It cannot be reached until a bee 
 alights on the flower. The bee's weight presses 
 down the part where the stigma is hidden, 
 until the stigma comes out and the pollen on 
 the bee can touch it. 77 
 
 "I should like to see that, 77 said Johnny. 
 
 "Nothing easier, 77 answered father. "All 
 you need do is to watch when the bees come 
 out and fly about the sweet pea flowers to get 
 their breakfast." 
 
 "Or, 77 added mother, "you can press the 
 flower apart with your own finger and see the 
 little stamens come forth." 
 
IY 
 
 WHY PUMPKINS DO NOT GROW ON 
 ROSE-BUSHES 
 
 " ^ "IT THY doesn't the flower want its 
 \/\/ own pollen ? " asked Johnny after 
 T T a few minutes. 
 
 " There is a fine reason for that," said 
 father. "If the flower is constantly self- 
 fertilized, as we say when it takes its own 
 pollen, it in time grows weak and puny. It 
 needs to be cross-fertilized, that is, it needs to 
 receive the pollen from some other plant, to 
 keep it strong." 
 
 "Doesn't any flower take its own pollen ? " 
 asked Molly very much interested. 
 
 "Oh, yes, a great many flowers take their 
 own pollen, but still they are often cross- 
 fertilized by the insects, and there are a great 
 many flowers that are made so they cannot get 
 their own pollen and but for their insect visitors 
 would never be able to mature any seeds. 
 Sometimes the male flowers are entirely sepa- 
 rate even grow on different plants. I can 
 show you a maple tree that bears only male 
 flowers, and near it another maple tree that 
 bears only female flowers.'' 
 
 "Come now," said mother, "and I will 
 
 [25] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 show you something right away." And she 
 led them to the cucumber patch. " There, 
 some of those flowers have no pistil at all. 
 They have only stamens. We call them stami- 
 nate or male flowers. Some others that have 
 no stamens are pistillate or female flowers. See 
 who will first discover a pistillate flower." 
 
 " They all look alike to me," said Johnny. 
 
 " And to me," added Molly, regarding with 
 a puzzled look the little yellow flowers that 
 covered the cucumber vines. 
 
 Finally Molly exclaimed : " Oh, I know ! ?? 
 
 At this Johnny began to look very carefully. 
 " Oh, gee ! " he shouted at last, u it's as plain 
 as the nose on your face." 
 
 " Well, now how is it, Molly?" asked mother. 
 
 " Why, the female flowers have little cu- 
 cumbers below them, and the male flowers 
 have not. Isn't that right 1 " 
 
 "The little cucumbers are the ovaries and 
 they are full of seeds," added Johnny. 
 
 Father smiled. " That is exactly the way 
 it is." 
 
 " Now look into the flower that has the little 
 cucumber below it," said mother, "and see if 
 you can find any stamens." 
 
 " No," said Johnny after he had looked into 
 a number of the pistillate flowers ; " no pollen 
 here, only the big sticky stigma." 
 
 "But there's pollen enough in the flowers 
 [26] 
 
Pumpkins and Rose-Bushes 
 
 that haven't any little cucumber," Molly an- 
 nounced, for she had been looking into the 
 starninate flowers ; " see," and she held up her 
 finger all dusted with pollen. 
 
 "Yes," said father, "so you see the bees 
 are rather important members of society. 
 Without them to carry pollen about we should 
 have no cucumbers, no melons, no peas or 
 beans ; indeed we should miss a great many 
 fruits and flowers but for the industrious bees 
 and other insects. The way they fertilize the 
 flowers is a very beautiful story which some 
 day you will want to know a great deal about." 
 
 "When we buy flower seeds they come up 
 the right colours," said Johnny puzzled. 
 
 "Yes," answered his father, "I was waiting 
 for you to think of that. Suppose we planted 
 cucumber seeds and when they came up and 
 the vines blossomed there were no bees what 
 could we do ? " 
 
 "Could we put the pollen on ourselves ?" 
 asked Molly. 
 
 " That is just it," said father approvingly. 
 "We could take a little brush and rub it 
 against the pollen, and then against the stigma, 
 thus fertilizing the flowers ourselves. So, if 
 you want white sweet pea seeds, the way to do 
 will be to cover a few white blossoming vines 
 to keep the bees from interfering, and with a 
 tiny brush collect the pollen from other white 
 [27] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 blossoms, press down the lower part of the 
 flower of the covered vine as the bee does, and 
 dust the stigma. " 
 
 " But what a lot of work ! 7 7 said Johnny. 
 
 "Yes," assented father, "and that is why 
 those fine selected seeds warranted to come 
 true to their colours cost so much more than 
 common mixed seeds. 77 
 
 " You should gather pollen from the largest 
 and handsomest flowers, " said Molly. 
 
 " Indeed you should, 77 agreed father. 
 
 " And fertilize only the stigmas of the largest 
 and handsomest flowers, 77 added Johnny. 
 
 " And gather only the largest and best seeds 
 when they are ripe, 77 added Molly. 
 
 " And give your plants good soil and plenty 
 of water, " added mother. 
 
 ' * Give them a good environment and a first- 
 class heredity, 77 concluded Johnny as they all 
 went in to supper. 
 
 " Father, 77 asked Johnny next day, " is it 
 by fertiliziog one flower with another that 
 people get so many new fruits and flowers? 77 
 
 "Yes, partly, 77 said father. " Some of our 
 finest grapes for instance have come from care- 
 ful selection, that is, fertilizing or breeding 
 two different kinds of grapes together. And 
 we get other fruits in the same way apples 
 for one thing. Making new kinds of fruits or 
 flowers we call plant-breeding. We can breed 
 
 [28] 
 
Pumpkins and Rose-Bushes 
 
 almost any kind of fruit we want by taking 
 pains enough and keeping at it long enough.' 7 
 
 " Why isn't the world full of well-bred fruits 
 and flowers ? " asked Molly. 
 
 " Because," said father, " high bred plants 
 take a good deal of time as well as a good deal 
 of knowledge, and when we have succeeded in 
 getting something worth keeping we have to 
 watch it and care for it, or it will revert to its 
 original form. It is easier to go down, you 
 know, than to go up. If you neglect your 
 garden even one summer you may lose the 
 work of several years. " 
 
 u But if everybody attended to their gardens 
 and had only well-bred fruits and flowers, 
 wouldn't it make a difference f " asked Johnny. 
 
 " Indeed it would. If everybody worked to 
 keep out weeds and selected only the best 
 seeds and planted them everywhere and cared 
 for them, then everybody could have the 
 choicest fruits and flowers. 7 ' 
 
 "I am going to fertilize an easter lily with 
 the pollen of a red rose and see what a lovely 
 flower I can make, ' 7 said Molly one day. 
 
 "]S"o, 7J said father, shaking his head, " you 
 can't do that. Just think how everything 
 would be all mixed up. We might have 
 pumpkins growing on rose-bushes and roses 
 on tomato vines. We should never know 
 what would result when we planted our seeds. 77 
 
 [29] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 "Peas on apple trees, and strawberries in 
 the potato patch ! " shouted Johnny, and both 
 children laughed at the thought. 
 
 "But, father,' 7 Johnny went on after a little 
 while, "what prevents? I should think the 
 bees might often carry pollen to the wrong 
 flowers. 77 
 
 "Doubtless they do," said father, "but 
 pollen cannot act excepting on the right 
 flower. If the bees left rose pollen on a lily, 
 for instance, the rose pollen could do nothing. 
 It can unite with only the ovule of the rose. 
 It would just wither up and die on any other 
 flower. 7J 
 
 "And the pollen of the apple can only join 
 the ovule of an apple blossom, and the pollen 
 of the nasturtium only the nasturtium ovule, 77 
 added Johnny. 
 
 " Yes, 77 said his father, " that is true. And 
 it is very fortunate. We can fertilize differ- 
 ent grapes together and experiment until we 
 get almost any kind of grape we want. And 
 we can do the same with peaches, and any 
 fruits or flowers, making each ever more per- 
 fect of its own kind. But we cannot mix up 
 grapes with peaches, or peaches with apples. 77 
 
 " I am glad of it, 77 said Molly. " We want 
 strawberries to be strawberries, and roses to 
 be roses. 7? 
 
 [30] 
 
WHY THE BUTTERFLY LAYS ITS EGGS 
 ON A LEAF 
 
 a "T" OOK at the seeds growing on this 
 leaf," said Molly one day. 
 
 iL ^ " Nonsense," replied Johnny; 
 "they can't be seeds. Seeds don't grow on 
 leaves ; they grow inside the flowers." 
 
 "Well, they look just like seeds, anyway." 
 
 "So they do," assented Johnny after look- 
 ing quite carefully at the little green things 
 on the back of the leaf. "Let's ask father." 
 
 So they ran to their father and showed him 
 what they had found. 
 
 He looked carefully and then said, "These 
 are seeds but they are not plant seeds. 
 They are butterfly seeds. " 
 
 " Butterfly seeds ! " exclaimed both children. 
 
 "Yes," father went on, "butterfly seeds. 
 We call them eggs, of course, but it is the 
 same thing." 
 
 " Do they grow in an ovary $ 7 ' Johnny asked. 
 
 " Yes,' 7 father said, " they grow in an ovary 
 inside the butterfly, just as the seeds grow in 
 an ovary inside the flower. They are nour- 
 ished by the blood of the butterfly and when 
 they are ripe the butterfly lays them.' 7 
 
 [31] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 11 Why does the butterfly lay its eggs on a 
 leaf? 77 asked Molly. "I should think it 
 would lay them in a pretty flower so when 
 the little butterfly hatches out it would have 
 a flower cradle to sleep in. 7? 
 
 "But you know, 77 said father, " the butter- 
 fly egg does not hatch into a butterfly. 77 
 
 "Oh, I remember, 7 ' said Johnny; "of 
 course it hatches into a little caterpillar." 
 
 "Yes," added Molly, " and the caterpillar 
 eats and eats and grows and grows. Its 
 mother lays the egg on just the kind of leaf 
 the little caterpillar will like to eat when it 
 hatches out. 77 Then turning to father she 
 asked, * ' How does the butterfly know what her 
 little caterpillar baby will want to eat ? 7? 
 
 "Because mothers know what is good for 
 their children, 77 said father. "Each kind of 
 butterfly lays its eggs on just the right leaf. 
 You can often tell what the little egg will 
 hatch into by the leaf it is on. The butter- 
 fly takes great care to give its offspring the 
 right environment. 77 
 
 "What does offspring mean, father 1 77 asked 
 Molly. 
 
 "It means children, and all good parents 
 try to find the best environment for their 
 offspring. That is why the big moth we 
 watched last spriug laid its eggs on the to- 
 mato vine. 7 ' 
 
 [32] 
 
The Butterfly s Eggs 
 
 "It must be terrible to have to eat tomato 
 leaves," said Molly, making a wry face. 
 
 " Not if you like them," said Johnny. 
 
 "That caterpillar would find your breakfast 
 as uneatable as you would find a tomato leaf, 77 
 added father. 
 
 "All because you are you, and a caterpillar 
 is a caterpillar, 77 added Johnny. 
 
 " Do mosquitoes lay eggs? " asked Molly, 
 
 "Of course, 77 said Johnny. "Don 7 t you 
 remember the wigglers in the water barrel 1 
 Well, they hatched out of mosquito eggs. 77 
 
 "Oh, yes, I forgot, 77 said Molly, who was 
 younger than Johnny and so did not remem- 
 ber quite as well sometimes. 
 
 "And beetles lay eggs, 77 went on Johnny, 
 "and so do flies and bees and dragon-flies. 
 I guess every kind of insect lays eggs. 
 Doesn 7 tit, father? 77 
 
 "Yes, that is the only way for insects to 
 come into the world. They must start as 
 eggs. And every kind of insect knows just 
 where to lay its eggs so that the young when 
 they hatch out can get food. Or else the 
 parents bring them food. 77 
 
 " Like the bees, 77 said Molly. 
 
 "Yes, 77 went on Johnny; "the old bees 
 feed the little grubs just as the old birds feed 
 the baby birds. 77 
 
 " Do insects inherit? 77 asked Molly. 
 [33] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 "Of course/' said Johnny 5 " butterflies' 
 eggs make butterflies, don't they ? " 
 
 "I didn't mean that. But do the butter- 
 flies inherit bright colours and pretty spots 
 the way the flowers do ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed they do," said father. 
 
 "Then if we kept the eggs of the hand- 
 somest and biggest butterflies would it be the 
 same as gathering the best flower seeds? " 
 
 " It would be the same," said father. " If 
 we could select the best seeds of the finest 
 butterflies we should be able to get extra 
 large and handsome butterflies. " 
 
 " But those eggs that our big red and brown 
 moth laid on the curtain last spring did not 
 hatch at all," said Molly. 
 
 "That," answered father, "was because 
 they had not been fertilized. Only fertile 
 eggs are able to hatch." 
 
 "Do you mean they needed pollen?" asked 
 Johnny opening his eyes. 
 
 "I mean just that," said father. " Butter- 
 fly eggs cannot hatch without pollen any more 
 than flower seeds can sprout without pollen. " 
 
 "Do they get it from the flowers? " asked 
 Molly. 
 
 "Think a minute," said father. 
 
 " No, "put in Johnny, "that wouldn't do. 
 The butterfly that lays the eggs is the mother. 
 So the father must be a butterfly too." 
 [34] 
 
The Butterfly's Eggs 
 
 " Perfectly right," said father. " It is just 
 the same with the insects as with the flowers. 
 The eggs must be fertilized by a male of the 
 same kind. You remember the lily could not 
 fertilize the rose. Well, the bee's eggs must 
 be fertilized by a bee, and the fly's eggs by a 
 fly. More than this the eggs of the honey-bee 
 must be fertilized by a honey-bee, those of a 
 bumblebee by a bumblebee, your big ce- 
 cropia moth's eggs must be fertilized by a 
 cecropia moth." 
 
 " It would not do to mix them up any more 
 than it would do to mix up the flowers," 
 added Johnny. 
 
 "No indeed, 7 ' said mother who had just 
 joined the trio. " Just think how beautiful it 
 is that everything is so well arranged, so that 
 our butterflies inherit their beautiful wings 
 from the parent butterflies and our honey-bees 
 always inherit the instinct to make honey." 
 
 "But could we change insects the way we 
 do plants by cross fertilizing $ ' ' Johnny wanted 
 to know. 
 
 "Yes," father replied, "it would be pos- 
 sible but very difficult because insects move 
 about so. " 
 
 "It has been done to a small extent with 
 butterflies as an experiment," mother went 
 on, " but there is not enough reason for doing 
 it to make people take the trouble. " 
 [35] 
 
The Spark o 
 
 " Insects are not useful like flowers, " said 
 Molly. 
 
 * 4 They are not useful to us in the same 
 way, ? ' replied father. * ' And it doesn' 1 matter 
 so much about their colours because they fly 
 about, while the flowers stay where we put 
 them." 
 
 "Father," asked Johnny later, "where is 
 the pollen in the butterfly?" 
 
 " It is inside the body of the male butterfly, 
 just as the eggs are inside the body of the 
 female butterfly," replied father. 
 
 " Just think how wonderful," mother added ; 
 " there is the little house of life that we call 
 the ovary in each female butterfly. In this 
 house of life grow the tiny seeds or eggs. 
 How marvellous these tiny seeds are ! Each 
 one of them can grow into a beautiful butter- 
 fly with a long tongue, six legs, two big eyes 
 and a pair of wings covered with tiny bright 
 coloured scales. How do you suppose that 
 little bit of an egg can do such wonderful 
 things'?'' 
 
 "It is the power of life," said father ; "it 
 is God working through the little seed." 
 
 "But it cannot grow unless fertilized," said 
 Johnny. "Nor do well unless it has a good 
 environment." 
 
 "That is true," said father, "for that is 
 the law. We must find out the laws of na- 
 
 [36] 
 
The Butterfly s Eggs 
 
 ture which are the laws of God, and obey 
 them." 
 
 "I don't see how its environment can affect 
 a butterfly," said Johnny thoughtfully. "It 
 can fly where it pleases." 
 
 "But it can't when it's an egg," promptly 
 added Molly. " It has to be laid on the right 
 leaf, and it has to have plenty of leaves to eat 
 when it hatches." 
 
 "Yes," added father, "and it must be in 
 the right place while it is a chrysalis, not too 
 wet or too dry, for when the butterfly comes 
 out if the air is too dry the bright wings wither 
 up instead of expanding." 
 
 "How does the pollen of the butterfly get 
 to the egg ? " Johnny asked one day. 
 
 "There is a little tube connected with the 
 tiny house of life where the pollen lies," re- ' 
 plied father, "and when the eggs are ripe in 
 the house of life in the female butterfly, then 
 the male butterfly sends the pollen to them by 
 means of this tube, so that the eggs are ferti- 
 lized before they are laid." 
 
 "Why not after they are laid?" asked 
 Johnny. 
 
 "Because," said mother, who was^ also 
 listening, "the surest way for these "little 
 life seeds to find their way to the eggs is in 
 the safe house of life in the body of the mother 
 butterfly. They might get chilled and die if 
 [37] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 they tried to find the eggs after they had been 
 laid on the leaf." 
 
 "Is it the same with all insects?" asked 
 Johnny. 
 
 " Yes," said father, " it is the same with all. 
 The flies also mate, as we say when the life 
 seeds are sent from the male house of life to 
 the female house of life. It is the same with 
 the beetles and the dragon-flies, the bees and 
 the wasps, and all insects." 
 
 "How does the butterfly know when the 
 ggs are ripe? " asked Molly. 
 
 " That," said father, " is a part of the great 
 law of life, a part of God's law, that when the 
 ^ggs are ripe in their house of life, the other 
 little life seeds shall also be ripe in their house 
 of life,- and the parents know that this is so, 
 and that they must place the two together. 
 When this happens and the eggs are fertilized 
 each egg begins to grow into a new butterfly. 
 This growth begins in the mother's house of 
 life, as you well know, and continues after the 
 egg is laid." 
 
 " Is the flower ovary a house of life too I " 
 asked Johnny. 
 
 "Yes," said father, "the flower ovary is a 
 house of life, and the anther that holds the 
 pollen is a house of life. Wherever new life 
 takes its start, that is the house of life." 
 
 [33] 
 
VI 
 
 HOW FISH LAY THEIR EGGS IN WATER 
 
 " TT'^k O fishes have a house of life ? " asked 
 Johnny one day as he stood watch- 
 
 M J ing a goldfish in his mother's aqua- 
 rium. 
 
 "Yes," said father, "fishes also have a 
 house of life. You remember the shad roe 
 you liked so much last spring. That was the 
 ovary filled with fish eggs." 
 
 "But not all the shad had these ovaries, 
 had they ? " asked Molly. ' < Only some of them. 
 Because the others had something that looked 
 a little like them, but different, and we did 
 not eat it. Was that the house of life of the 
 male fish?" 
 
 "Yes," assented father, "it was. If you 
 could have examined what was inside that 
 male house of life with a microscope you 
 would have found it filled with a liquid in 
 which was suspended millions and millions of 
 little life seeds. " 
 
 " The pollen of the fishes," said Molly. 
 
 "Yes," agreed father, "the pollen of the 
 fishes. Mother, you tell them how the fish 
 eggs are fertilized." 
 
 "You see," mother replied, "fishes live in 
 [39] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 the water. Their life is different from that of 
 land animals, because their environment is so 
 different. " 
 
 " They breathe water for one thing, " said 
 Molly. 
 
 " No indeed ! " exclaimed Johnny. " They 
 breathe air. Father says all living things, 
 plants and animals, breathe air. " 
 
 " But where do they get it ? " asked Molly. 
 
 " There is always a little air mixed in with 
 the water enough for fishes to breathe, " an- 
 swered Johnny who remembered what his 
 father had once told him. 
 
 " That is true," said mother, " and if there 
 was no air at all in the water the fishes would 
 smother. Well, the female fish lays her eggs 
 in some quiet, safe place where she thinks the 
 young fishes will have a good chance to hatch 
 out." 
 
 " She gives them a good environment," said 
 Molly. 
 
 "Yes," mother went on; "and after the 
 eggs are laid, the male fish, who has kept 
 close to her, swims over them, and pours out 
 the seeds from his house of life upon them. 
 The fish eggs, unlike those of the insect, are 
 fertilized after they are laid." 
 
 " Why is that ! " asked Johnny. 
 
 "Because it is the easiest and best way," 
 replied mother. "The fertilizing fluid of the 
 
 [40] 
 
How Fish Lay Eggs in Heater 
 
 fish is not too much chilled by the water and 
 it cannot dry up in the water, but flows over 
 the eggs, so that the little seeds of life can find 
 their way into the egg and fertilize it." 
 
 " Sometimes, " joined in father, " fishes 
 make nests. The stickleback is such a fish. 
 It makes its nest in the grasses in the water 
 and the father fish stays about and protects 
 the eggs from being eaten up by other fish." 
 
 ' * And the black bass, father, " added mother, 
 "takes care of his offspring after they hatch 
 out. He goes with them to find food, and 
 fights for them against their enemies." 
 
 "Do all fishes care for their offspring? 7 ' 
 Johnny inquired one day. 
 
 * ' JSTo, they dou ? t, ? ? answered mother. < ' Most 
 fishes do no more than lay the eggs in a good 
 environment. There they leave them to their 
 fate." 
 
 " Isn't that cruel I " asked Molly. 
 
 "It would be if the fishes knew any better, " 
 replied father. 6 < But they have not minds and 
 hearts like us. They are not able to love and 
 to know. They follow their instincts only." 
 
 " What are instincts, father ? " asked Molly. 
 
 " Instinct is the knowledge animals are born 
 with, without thinking. It is instinct that 
 makes the young animal eat as soon as it is 
 born, instinct that teaches the birds to build 
 their nests, the young fishes to swim and the 
 
 [413 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 baby quail to lie perfectly still when an enemy 
 approaches. " 
 
 ' ' Why doesn' t instinct make all the fisheslove 
 and care for their offspring I " mother asked. 
 
 " Because, " answered father, " the fish is a 
 very simple form of life and lays so many 
 eggs that special care is not needed in order 
 to preserve as many fishes as there is food for 
 in the water. You know fishes must eat. If 
 all fish eggs hatched out and grew up there 
 would not be room in the sea to hold them, 
 for some fishes lay as many as a million eggs 
 in one season." 
 
 " What becomes of them ? " asked Johnny. 
 
 " A. good many are eaten by crabs and 
 fishes and other animals, a good many hatch 
 out only to be eaten up while young." 
 
 "That seems horrible," said Molly. 
 
 "But when you come to think of it, it is 
 not horrible," said father. "You do not 
 mind eating the seeds of the flowers, the corn 
 and wheat, the peas and beans. Well, the 
 fishes are not unlike the flowers. They scatter 
 their seeds in the greatest abundance, only 
 taking care to lay them in as good an environ- 
 ment as they can find. After the seeds are 
 laid and fertilized, most fishes, like the flowers, 
 pay no more attention to them." 
 
 "But it is not that way with the birds," 
 said Molly, "and I am glad it isn't." 
 
 [42] 
 
VII 
 
 WHY BIRDS GROW INSIDE OF SHELLS 
 
 " TT TT OW the birds seem to love their little 
 
 I i baby birds, 77 said Molly one day. 
 
 1 JL u Let's go and see, father, what 
 the wrens are doing now, 77 and they all went 
 to the back of the house where a pair of wrens 
 had built their nest in a corner of the wood- 
 shed. There sat the little mother wren on the 
 eggs. She turned a bright eye upon them as 
 they came close, but she was not afraid be- 
 cause she knew that they would not hurt her. 
 Kear her the male bird was alternately sing- 
 ing and scolding as he darted about through 
 the tangle of raspberry bushes. 
 
 "What a pretty place for a nest, 77 said 
 mother "so safe, close to us, and near the 
 window so that the little mother bird can look 
 out into the garden while she is brooding the 
 eggs." 
 
 " Sometimes the father bird sits on them, 7 > 
 added Johnny who had watched the little fam- 
 ily with the greatest care. 
 
 "Yes, they take turns, 7 ' father went on, 
 "so neither will get too tired. It is weari- 
 some work for such active little creatures to 
 sit still so long at a time. 77 
 [43] 
 
T*he Spark of Life 
 
 "It is because they know what is to come 
 out of those eggs, and dearly love their baby 
 birds, 77 said mother. 
 
 " They were careful to find them a good 
 safe environment, 77 added Johnny. " Do you 
 remember, Molly, the mocking-birds in Florida 
 that spring who built their nest way back 
 among the sharp thorns of the old orange 
 tree ? That was a safe place ! " 
 
 "I should think so, 77 exclaimed Molly; 
 "and how the birds come up North every 
 spring to build their nests. Is that so the 
 young ones will have a better environment to 
 grow in 1 ? 77 
 
 "I think so, 77 replied father; " and they 
 all go South in the autumn to find a good en- 
 vironment in which to pass the winter. 77 
 
 "See! 77 cried Molly. "There comes Mr. 
 Wren bringing a fat worm to his lady on the 
 nest. Now what is he scolding about ? Oh, 
 he sees the cat. Puss won 7 t touch you. She 
 has been taught better. 77 
 
 " Do you remember how the robins chased 
 that old cat up at the farm? 77 and Johnny 
 chuckled at the memory. 
 
 "Yes, 77 said Molly, "they drove him under 
 the house and screamed and scolded whenever 
 they saw him. 77 
 
 " I wonder how they dared go so near him, 77 
 said Johnny still laughing. 
 [44] 
 
Birds Grow Inside of Shells 
 
 "That," Molly informed him, " was because 
 they had a nest in the apple tree. Parents 
 forget themselves when their children are in 
 danger. 77 
 
 "Yes," said mother, " many little parents 
 among the feathered and furry folk have died 
 to save their young ones." 
 
 "I suppose, 77 said Johnny, "that every 
 bird has a house of life. 77 
 
 "Yes, 77 answered mother; " the bird, like 
 the fishes and the flowers, has its wonderful 
 house of life where the seeds of its race de- 
 velop. 77 
 
 " But the bird 7 s eggs are not little, like the 
 eggs of the fishes and insects, " said Molly. 
 
 "At first they are as small as a fish egg," 
 replied father. "They grow in a little ovary 
 that lies inside the bird near the backbone 
 and are called ovules. When the time comes 
 the ovules ripen, one after the other. About 
 the little seed of life there gathers yellow oil 
 and food substance until we have the full- 
 grown yolk. This finds its way into the ovi- 
 duct, a soft tube or pipe along which it moves 
 to the outer opening through which it passes 
 to drop into the nest. But on the way through 
 this tube there gathers about the yolk the part 
 we call the white of the egg. This, too, is food 
 substance. The young bird, as you know, 
 grows inside the egg-shell and it needs very 
 [45 ] 
 
"The Spark of Life 
 
 good food to grow on. All this food is 
 changed into the young bird before it hatches, 
 and soon before the egg is laid the shell forms 
 about it. The shell is liquid at first, but it 
 quickly hardens as it forms about the egg." 
 
 "Sometimes the hen's egg is laid without 
 any shell. I have found such eggs, soft eggs 
 the farmer calls them, in the hen-house, " said 
 Johnny. 
 
 "Yes," added mother, "that sometimes 
 happens, but the natural way, if the hen has 
 the right kind of food, is for the shell to form 
 so that the egg will be protected when it is 
 laid. Neither the hen nor any other bird 
 could sit on shelless eggs, you know, without 
 breaking them. 
 
 "Now about fertilization, 77 mother went on. 
 " When do you think that takes place, before 
 the egg is laid, or after ? 77 
 
 " Why, before, 77 said Johnny after thinking 
 a moment. 
 
 "Yes," added Molly, "it would have to 
 be before the shell formed, I should think. " 
 
 "That is true/ 7 said mother. "The seeds 
 of life grow in the male bird just as the eggs 
 grow in the female bird, and before the shell is 
 formed these tiny seeds are placed in the 
 oviduct where they find their way to the little 
 opening in the eggs that is there for them to 
 enter. These little pollen seeds of the bird can 
 
 [46] 
 
TFhy Birds Grow Inside of Shells 
 
 move. Under the microscope they look a 
 little like long-tailed tadpoles. They lash the 
 tail-like part and swim about in the fluid in 
 which they live until one of them finds the 
 opening into the egg. When it enters, the 
 opening closes. Then the shell forms, enclos- 
 ing the two life seeds and the egg is laid in the 
 nest." 
 
 " The father bird helps take care of the eggs 
 because they belong to him too," said Molly . 
 
 "Yes," added Johnny, "the little birds 
 inherit from him too ; they are just as much his 
 as they are the mother bird's. 9 ' 
 
 " But the egg is much larger than the pollen 
 seed," said Molly. 
 
 "That, 77 said father smiling, "doesn't really 
 matter. What matters is that the spark of 
 life is in each, and that when the two become 
 one, the young bird can begin to form. It 
 depends upon one parent quite as much as on 
 the other, and the pollen seed is able to trans- 
 mit all the characteristics of the father just as 
 the tiny ovule transmits those of the mother." 
 
 " It makes fathers love their offspring," said 
 Molly. 
 
 " It certainly does," answered father. 
 
 "Suppose," said Johnny, "a hen's egg was 
 not fertilized. What would become of it ? " 
 
 " It would get its shell and be laid just the 
 same," answered father, "but it could not 
 [47] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 hatch. People who raise hens for eggs some- 
 times keep no male bird. The hens lay j ust 
 as well, but the eggs are all sterile, which 
 means that they have not been fertilized and 
 cannot hatch." 
 
 "I think it is wonderful," said Molly. 
 
 "It is," said mother. "Just think what 
 beautiful creatures develop from these tiny 
 seeds of life. Just think how all the birds in 
 the world have been stored up in these wonder- 
 ful seeds. " 
 
 "And all the fishes and insects and about 
 everything else, 77 added Johnny. 
 
 "And how these little seeds of life remem- 
 ber, each one, the characteristics of the parent 
 whence it came, even to the making of the 
 wonderful feathers of the bird of paradise, the 
 barred feathers of the owl, the bright red and 
 yellow feathers of the parrot,' 7 added father. 
 
 "And the shining scales of the fishes 
 that are such pretty colours and show such 
 pretty markings under the microscope, 7 ' added 
 Johnny. 
 
 "The perfection of it all is amazing, 77 said 
 father. "Here are some pollen grains under 
 the microscope just look and see how those 
 tiny things are shaped aud marked as prettily 
 and as carefully as sea-shells. 77 
 
 " What kind of pollen is it? 7? asked Molly 
 peeping into the microscope. 
 
 [48] 
 
Why Birds Grow Inside of Shells 
 
 " There are several kinds, " answered father. 
 "I brushed my hand across the flowers as I 
 passed through the garden, and found it dusted 
 with many colours of pollen, so I thought I 
 would see what they really look like. 77 
 
 "Such pretty, pretty things,' 7 exclaimed 
 Molly. "Does each flower have its pollen 
 grains all the same shape ? ? 7 
 
 " Yes, 77 said father ; " we could tell by the 
 appearance of the pollen grain what flower it 
 came from, if we knew enough.' 7 
 
 " And we can tell by the seeds what flowers 
 they came from, 77 added Molly. 
 
 " These seeds of life that cradle the races of 
 the future are the most wonderful things in 
 existence, next to the human soul, 77 said father 
 reverently. 
 
 "There is nothing much more wonderful 
 than the bird's egg and its development, and 
 the loving care taken of it by the birds, 77 said 
 mother as the male wren hopped to the nest 
 where his mate was sitting, as though to show 
 them how well he loved the little brown mother 
 bird and their charming eggs. 
 
 " It is cruel to take birds 7 eggs, 77 said Molly. 
 "Cruel and hateful. But we can take the 
 hen 7 s eggs to eat. 77 
 
 "Why isn't that just as crueH 77 asked 
 Johnny. " The hen lays eggs in order to hatch 
 them, doesn't she? " 
 
 [49] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 " Well, 77 answered father, " in the hen you 
 have an example of breeding for a special pur- 
 pose. For thousands of years man has bred 
 hens to lay eggs until the hen has become a 
 sort of egg-laying machine. Many hens do 
 not care to sit, as you know. Some varieties 
 are great layers but such poor sitters that their 
 eggs have to be hatched by some other kind 
 of hen, or in an incubator. In those hens the 
 brooding instinct has been destroyed. 77 
 
 " People bred their chickens that way on 
 purpose to get eggs, 77 said Molly. 
 
 4 ' That is true, " added father ; " we take care 
 of the hens and feed them the best of food, and 
 they repay us by laying eggs for our use. 77 
 
 " It isn't cruel to take the eggs out of the 
 nests then, 77 said Molly. 
 
 "No, indeed, 77 replied father, " it isn 7 t cruel 
 at all. When a hen wants to sit, we generally 
 let her, but think what thousands of eggs 
 would be wasted if we did not take them. 77 
 
 " Could birds be bred to lay eggs? " asked 
 Johnny, still watching the wrens. 
 
 "I am sure they could, 77 said father, "but 
 it wouldn 7 1 pay. If a bird's eggs are destroyed 
 the bird often lays another set ; sometimes it 
 may even lay two or three sets." 
 
 [So] 
 
VIII 
 
 HOW PRIZE CHICKENS AND FANCY 
 PIGEONS ARE BROUGHT ABOUT 
 
 BEAT oaks from little acorns grow, 77 
 said Johnny lying on his back under 
 the big oak one day.and looking up 
 into its branches. 
 
 "And a splendid apple tree from a little 
 black seed," added Molly. 
 
 " But it seems more wonderful to me that a 
 peacock with its gorgeous feathers can develop 
 from an egg that is just a spoonful of soft stuff 
 with a hard shell around it," said Johnny 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 " The most beautiful thing about it to me," 
 said mother, " is that we can by selecting the 
 best seeds and providing a good environment 
 get better and better offspring in both the 
 plant and animal world. " 
 
 "Did our white Wyandotte chickens come 
 from selection ? ' > inquired Molly. 
 
 " Yes," said father, "it took long and care- 
 ful breeding to get those beautiful and useful 
 birds. And now we must continue mating the 
 finest birds and selecting the best eggs laid by 
 them to keep up the breed." 
 
 " Yes," said mother, "you know how much 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 pains father takes to find out which hens lay 
 the most eggs, and to take those eggs for 
 hatching. " 
 
 "Yes, and how much pains we all take 
 to give those chickens a good environment, " 
 added Johnny with a sigh. " It is nothing but 
 clean the hen-house and chicken yard, keep 
 the water fresh, watch for cats and skunks and 
 foxes and rats, see that the rain does not get 
 in, nor draughts blow on the chickens 
 at night. They are really a great deal of 
 trouble." 
 
 " But how well they repay us," added father 
 laughing. "We keep fewer hens but get 
 many more eggs and much better poultry than 
 our neighbours whose chickens are not so well 
 cared for and not so well bred." 
 
 " Have all the different kinds of prize chick- 
 ens been made by breeding ? " asked Molly. 
 
 "Yes, all of them,' 7 said father. 
 
 "And the pigeons too," added Johnny. 
 "All those funny fantail and pouter pigeons 
 and tumblers. " 
 
 " Yes, they were made by careful breeding, " 
 said father. "It is very interesting. You 
 decide what kind of bird you want to get, then 
 you choose for parents the two birds that are 
 most like what you want. You select parents 
 from the offspring of these and keep on select- 
 ing generation after generation until you get 
 
 [52] 
 
Prize Chickens and Pigeons 
 
 just what you want. Sometimes it takes a 
 good , while to get just what you planned for, 
 but if you are persevering and skillful you will 
 succeed in time." 
 
 1 i But you would have to keep mating birds 
 that were closely related," said mother, "and 
 I thought that cross-fertilizing was needful in 
 animals as well as in plants." 
 
 " It is," said father, " and that is one reason 
 why the very fancy pigeons are so delicate ; 
 they have been too much in-bred as we say. " 
 
 " Is that why you sent away for a new rooster 
 last spring ? ? ' asked Johnny. 
 
 "Yes," said father. "I wanted my little 
 chickens to be strong and healthy, and so I 
 exchanged one of our beautiful cocks with a 
 friend who also breeds carefully for egg-laying. " 
 
 "Why does it matter so much about the 
 cock? He doesn't lay eggs anyway," said 
 Molly. 
 
 "Why, Molly," said Johnny indignantly, 
 " have you forgotten about inheritance ? " 
 
 "Yes," said mother soothingly, "although 
 the cock may not lay eggs if he comes from a 
 good egg-laying line, his offspring will inherit 
 through him the egg-laying power." 
 
 "It is important for both parents to come 
 from good egg-laying stock, for the male bird 
 quite as much as for the hen," said Johnny. 
 
 "Indeed, it is very important," agreed 
 [53] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 father. "In fact, the pedigree of the male is 
 just as important as that of the female in all 
 forms of life." 
 
 " It seems to me," said Molly, " that about 
 everything lays eggs. Turtles do, for we found 
 some turtle eggs last year, and snakes do, but 
 turtles and snakes do not hatch their eggs 
 themselves, they just bury them in the sand 
 and leave them to hatch out the best way they 
 can." 
 
 "That," said mother, "is because they are 
 able to hatch from the heat of the sun. Cold- 
 blooded animals do not need to be kept very 
 warm even in the egg. You may be very sure 
 that if the eggs could not hatch without the 
 mother's care, she would look after them." 
 
 " Progs' eggs hatch out into tadpoles in the 
 water, so I suppose frogs are cold-blooded 
 animals," said Johnny. 
 
 " They are," replied father. 
 
 " All the warm-blooded animals, that is, all 
 birds and mammals, take care of their young." 
 
 < < Do all birds 1 " asked Johnny. < ' I thought 
 ostriches didn't." 
 
 "It is the rule," said father, "but most 
 rules have exceptions, you know." 
 
 [54] 
 
IX 
 HOW KITTENS START FROM EGGS 
 
 " 'W ^JT THAT are mammals t" asked 
 \ /\ I Johnny one day. 
 
 T V " Mammals are warm-blooded 
 
 animals that suckle their young," replied 
 mother. 
 
 " Birds are warm-blooded, but they are not 
 mammals, " said Molly. 
 
 " Come with me, and I will show you some- 
 thing, " said father with a twinkle in his eye. 
 So they all followed him out to the barn. And 
 there, in a warm bed of hay under the feed 
 box in the manger, they heard a loud purring. 
 
 "It is Pussy Willow!' 7 whispered Molly 
 excitedly as she peeped in. "And oh ! oh I 
 oh ! there is a whole snuggle of little baby 
 pussies ! " 
 
 "Do let me look!" said Johnny pulling 
 her arm. 
 
 " There are five," said Johnny ; " three of 
 them yellow and white like Pussy Willow, and 
 two black and white ones. Can I take one 
 out ! " 
 
 "Yes, but be very gentle,' 7 said father. 
 
 " Of course," replied Johnny, and in a mo- 
 ment all the heads were bent over the fuzzy 
 [55] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 little object lying in Johnny's hand. "It is 
 marked exactly like Pussy Willow, " he said. 
 
 " Let me hold it," begged Molly. 
 
 " I will get you another one," and Johnny 
 dived down into the manger again and in a 
 moment put a soft little bundle of fur into 
 Molly's outstretched hand. 
 
 "How perfectly lovely!" exclaimed the 
 little girl. "See how sweet it is yellow and 
 white with black on its back and legs. Where 
 did the black colour come from 1 There isn' t a 
 bit on Pussy Willow." 
 
 "See," and Johnny drew another kitten 
 from the manger ; ' l here is one nearly all 
 black ; it has only white toes and a white shirt 
 front. The kittens must have had a black 
 father." 
 
 "Let me see," and Molly looked with in- 
 terest at the black little fellow. 
 
 "Johnny," she cried at length, "do you 
 know who that kitten looks like?" 
 
 Johnny laughed. "Of course I do; it is 
 marked just like black Tom who lives next 
 door. I guess he's the father of our kittens." 
 
 "You had better give them back to their 
 mother now," said mother. "They are too 
 young to be handled much." 
 
 ' ' Pussy Willow doesn't care ; hear her purr, ? ' 
 laughed Molly. 
 
 "No, she trusts us," answered father, "but 
 
 [56] 
 
How Kittens Start From Eggs 
 
 you know the very best environment for young 
 kittens is close to their warm little mother, 
 where they can eat and sleep until they get 
 their eyes open." 
 
 " Why aren't kittens born with their eyes 
 open? " asked Molly. 
 
 "It seenis to be the law," said mother, 
 " that young things shall come into the world 
 only partly developed." 
 
 "It is so with butterflies," said Molly 5 
 " they start as caterpillars." 
 
 "And frogs and lizards start as pollywogs," 
 added Johnny. 
 
 "And kitties are born blind, and so are 
 puppies. But little calves and colts are not." 
 
 "No," said mother ; "the calves and colts 
 are not born blind, but they are dependent 
 upon their mothers for milk to keep them 
 alive, and for protection from enemies. You 
 remember how Crumplehorn gored and tram- 
 pled the ugly dog that was trying to worry her 
 calf." 
 
 " Yes, and the white mare was quite danger- 
 ous for several days after her colt came," 
 added Johnny. "Even the farmer did not 
 dare go near her. She chased everybody out 
 of the field." 
 
 " It is the helplessness of the little new-born 
 things that makes their mothers love them 
 so," said father. " Love is the greatest thing 
 [57] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 in the world, and these helpless little creatures 
 have done much to bring love into the world. " 
 
 The kittens grew fast, and one day Pussy 
 Willow brought them, one at a time, in her 
 mouth, into the house. The children were 
 delighted to see her coming holding a fluffy 
 kitten by the back of the neck. They made 
 a warm bed for her behind the kitchen stove. 
 
 "Now," said Molly, "we must feed pussy 
 well ; so much depends on good food to start 
 with, you know." 
 
 "But the kittens drink their mother's 
 milk,' 7 said Johnny. 
 
 " Think a minute, Johnny," said father who 
 happened to come in at the moment. " Where 
 does Pussy Willow get her milk ? " 
 
 " To be sure,'' replied Johnny, "she has to 
 eat enough to make milk for all those kittens 
 as well as to keep herself fed. That is why 
 the Smiths' cat that comes prowling about our 
 garbage pail is so awfully thin. They don't 
 feed her and she has three or four scrawny 
 kittens, not at all pretty and plump like our 
 kits." 
 
 "Poor little mother cat," said Molly. "I 
 am going to put a dish of milk out by the gar- 
 bage pail every day for her ; may I, mother ? " 
 
 "Of course," said mother. " It is cruel to 
 starve any mother that is suckling her young. 
 Not only do the young ones suffer, but there 
 
 [58] 
 
How Kittens Start From Eggs 
 
 is no hunger so keen as that which the hungry 
 mother feels. " 
 
 " Pussy Willow doesn't suffer," said Molly. 
 " She's as sleek as can be and the kittens are 
 as round and fat as butterballs." 
 
 "They have a pretty good environment be- 
 hind the kitchen stove/ 7 said mother laugh- 
 ing. 
 
 4 * There is something about Pussy Willow I 
 don't understand," said Johnny as they were 
 sitting by a blazing fire one cool evening. 
 " Of course, I know that she too must have a 
 house of life where the young develop. But 
 how do they start? " 
 
 "How does the chicken startT' asked 
 father; "and the birds, and the fishes, the 
 frogs, the lizards, the snakes, the insects and 
 the turtles f " 
 
 "Why, they start as eggs, of course, but 
 that is just it ; Pussy Willow doesn't lay eggs." 
 
 "No, not exactly, and yet each of those 
 kittens began as a tiny ovule no bigger than 
 a pin-head in the ovary of the mother." 
 
 "Tell us about it," begged Molly, and 
 father went on. 
 
 "You see the ovary of the cat, like that of 
 the bird, connects with the outer world by 
 means of a long, soft tube. When the little 
 ovule is ripe it passes into this tube. Now if 
 the life seeds of the male have been placed in 
 [59] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 the tube they find their way to the little ovule, 
 and one of them enters it. You know what 
 happens then. 7 ' 
 
 " It begins to develop," said Johnny. 
 
 "True," said father; "and generally sev- 
 eral ovules start about the same time but in- 
 stead of passing at once out of the tube, these 
 ovules remain within it and there continue to 
 develop." 
 
 "I see," said Johnny. "The egg of the 
 bird is first laid and then hatched, while 
 the ovule of the cat hatches before it is " 
 
 "Born," interrupted mother. " We speak 
 of the egg being laid, and the kitten being 
 born, but it is really the same thing. When- 
 ever the young life conies from its mother into 
 the world it is born." 
 
 "And so our kitties started as little eggs," 
 said Molly. " How nice it is that all animals 
 start alike. It makes it so easy to remember." 
 
 "Black Tom," said Johnny, " can never 
 have any kittens the way Pussy Willow has 
 them, but still they are just as much his as 
 hers." 
 
 "But he doesn't care any thing about them," 
 said Molly. " Why doesn't he? " 
 
 "Because," said mother, "he is a cat, and 
 
 the male cat does not care for his offspring, 
 
 although male cats have been known to watch 
 
 over and protect little kittens. As a rule, 
 
 [60] 
 
How Kittens Start From Eggs 
 
 though, they do not care for them. That is all 
 left to the mother. Such is the law of nature." 
 
 " Could cats be bred so that the male cat 
 would love the kittens f " asked Johnny 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 " Undoubtedly it could be done, 77 answered 
 father j " but there is no good reason for do- 
 ing it now. " 
 
 "But," said mother, "one can imagine 
 what a beautiful place the world might be if 
 all living creatures were bred up to their best. 77 
 
 "Do you know, mother,' 7 said Johnny, 
 taking his mother's hand one day and laying 
 his cheek against it, "I understand now how 
 human beings come into the world. The law 
 is the same everywhere, isn't it ? " 
 
 " Yes," said mother. " God has one general 
 law that works through all life, and father and 
 I have told you carefully about the develop- 
 ment of the different forms of life on purpose 
 to help you understand the great and wonderful 
 mystery in the human life.' 7 
 
 "Well, then, heredity, 77 said Johnny, 
 " counts for a great deal, doesn't it, father 1 77 
 
 "For everything. Its importance cannot be 
 overestimated, 77 replied father. "What the 
 parents are, that the children, within limits, 
 will be. Every child born into the world 
 ought to have a good inheritance and 7 7 
 
 "A good environment, 7 ' finished Molly. 
 [61] 
 
The Spark of Life 
 
 "Yes. A good inheritance and a good 
 environment," repeated father. "It is the 
 duty of every man and woman to cultivate a 
 healthy body and a pure mind, for the sake 
 of those who may be born from them." 
 
 "Even children," said mother, "ought to 
 be trained so that they will make good parents. 
 They ought to love and respect their bodies, 
 keep them clean, and never do anything to 
 defile them. They never ought to think evil 
 or unclean thoughts, for such thoughts harm 
 the body as well as the mind." 
 
 "Well, I am going to try," said Johnny. 
 
 " So am I," said Molly. " I want to marry 
 when I grow up and have some beautiful 
 children." 
 
 "So do I," said Johnny, "and I am glad 
 they will really belong to me too. I am going 
 to try and be as good a father to my children 
 as you, father, have been to us." 
 
 " And I," said Molly, " am going to try and 
 be as good a mother to my little children as 
 you, mother, have been to us." 
 
 "May God bless you," said father laying a 
 hand on the head of each. 
 
 " Amen," said mother softly. 
 
 Printed in the United States of America 
 [62] 
 
THE EDWARD BOK BOOKS OF 
 
 Self- Knowledge for Young People and Parents 
 Edited by EDWARD BOK 
 
 Handy pocket form. Each, limp cloth, net 2jc. 
 
 The constant aim of this graded series is to be 
 anticipatory. Each separate treatise is concise, 
 lucid, never suggestive beyond the age limit. 
 
 FOR PARENTS 
 
 1. How Shall 1 Tell My Child ? A Little Book 
 for Parents by Mrs. Woodallen Chapman. 
 
 This, the first volume of the series, has been 
 expressly prepared to answer the question that 
 the title asks. In the Foreword Mr. Bok says : 
 " The order of the day is now distinctly towards 
 the wise enlightenment of the child. But where 
 this change of opinion has come, the question 
 has come with it, How ? " Mrs. ^Woodallen 
 Chapman, so well known as a practical coun- 
 sellor on all matters relating to the child, has 
 fully answered this question in this concise little 
 treatise. 
 
 FOR BOYS 
 
 2. When a Boy Becomes a Man. A Little Book 
 for Boys by H. Bisseker, M. A. 
 
 The second volume of the series is for boys of 
 from thirteen to fifteen years of age. It is writ- 
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 knows the boy and his needs and revised by 
 a body of medical experts. Every boy should 
 know these facts about himself, should have the 
 explanations, the warnings and the practical aid 
 contained in this volume. 
 
THE EDWARD BOK BOOKS OF 
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 Like the preceding volumes in this series, this 
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 Parents, teachers and all interested in young 
 men should welcome this practical volume. 
 
 FOR YOUNG CHILDREN 
 
 4. The Spark of Life. The Story of How Liv- 
 ing Things Came Into the World. As Told 
 for Boys and Girls, by Margaret W. Morley. 
 
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 life simple enough for a child to understand.' 
 For here it is, told as simply and beautifully 
 as I have ever seen it told anywhere." 
 
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 Girl of Ten to Fifteen, by Caroline Latimer, 
 M. D., M. A. 
 
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 book a complete little guide within the compass 
 of her space. If a girl, at the changing period 
 in her life, intelligently reads and remembers 
 what is said she will have an understanding of 
 her physical and moral self that will give her 
 exactly the knowledge that every girl should 
 have." 
 
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