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