The Three Little Spades, by the Author of 'The Golden Ladder'. (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1868 Excerpt: ...mamma, what makes them swell 1" said Clover. "I mean, why do they? what is it for 1" "Do you remember when Prim was a baby, covered up in her cradle and fast asleep, how still she lay, and how smooth aud undisturbed was her little silk quilt " "Yes, indeed," said Clover. "I used to watch and listen sometimes to see if she was really breathing." "Well, these seeds that you have just covered with soft earth are asleep. Hid away in each one of them is a tiny morsel of a plant, all crumpled up and folded in, as still and motionless as if it had no life. Even in a large seed like a bean it is very small, just a little stem and one or two leaves; and there it lies, fast bound in the hard outer shell of the seed, waiting its time." "Mamma, can you see this little plant?" said Clover. "Yes, sometimes. If you split open a bean very carefully, you will see the tiny plant folded away between the two halves of the bean; but in very small seeds you would need a magnifying glass, or even a microscope. Well, when the seed is put in the ground, the hard outer shell grows moist, from the moist earth, and begins to crack open; and the warm rays of the sun send their heat quite down through earth and seed and'all, to the little plant that lies so fast asleep. And the plant awakes, and begins to stir and stretch itself out--or to grow, as we say. The wee bit of a stem lengthens, and pushes its way through the outer wall of seed down into the earth, and the leaves shoot up into the sunshine and unfold, shaking off by degrees the seed husk which held them prisoner." "Mamma, it's like a fairy tale " said Clover. "Yes, it's the princess in the wood " cried Primrose. "She's asleep, a...