— The White Lily. 2

sky is so kind to them with its rain and its sunshine
in season, the moon shines so softly upon them when
the night is clear, and the fireflies in May-time flit
so gaily at night upon them, that perhaps it is no
wonder they grow cleverer than other flowers, and
have hearts that beat so full of life that they can take
a part in the lives of children who are akin to them.

And in that country children and flowers and beasts
are all the children of one mother, whose name is
Mother Earth, and so they are all brothers and sisters,
and can all talk to one another so long as they love
one another. ©

Mother Earth is a very kind mother if her children
are obedient, but if they do what she has forbidden
them to do, they get punished directly.

And she gives all her children a great many rules
to follow before she sends them out into the world.

There are as many rules for the beasts and the
flowers as there are for the children, and some of
them are very tiresome rules indeed, and very hard
to remember—all the more so as Mother Earth does