to know how to
do it in a nice and plain way, she began:

"In the first place, dear," she said, "you must know that the flowers
are the husbands and wives of plants, made so by nature. They are in
their way as truly married as Mr. and Mrs. Jones are in their way, or
as your papa and I are. This marriage is a law of nature, invented to
carry on the race, whatever that race may be, whether it is that of
mankind, or plants, or animals, or birds, or even fishes. For not only
do men and flowers marry, everything in nature does the same--turtles,
frogs, robins, elephants, everything!"

Elsie wished very much at this point to ask if her mother had ever
seen an elephant's wife, thinking that she must look rather funny,
much different, to say the least, from a flower's wife, but as the
answer came to her at once, without asking the question, she said
nothing. Of course an elephant's wife must be another elephant, as the
flower's wife was another flower. But it was all very singular, and
the sparkle of her eyes as she looked into her mother's face showed
her interest in what might be coming. Mrs. Edson went on:

"We will begin with plants, because they came first into the world as
living beings, and all other living beings not only had their origin
in plants but live by aid of them to this day. From the plants grew
animals, and from animals grew men and women and little girls. It took
a long, long time for all this to come about, so long that the human
mind fails to grasp or comprehend it; and at first, when one hears of
it for the first time, it seems wholly impossible and unbelievable.
But science has proved it to be true, and even shows the exact way in
which the various changes were made. Many, if not all, the steps by
which we mounted from the condition of a tiny speck of jelly-plant, a
speck no bigger than the point of a pin, to become human beings are
still in existence and are frequently observed by scientists. With a
microscope anybody may see them. So we know that the theory of
evolution, as it is called, is a true one. It is also an exceedingly
wonderful and beautiful truth, full of secrets and surprises of the
most interesting and delightful kind, as I shall show. Now let's go
and examine the buttercup that the bee just married to the second
buttercup."

Elsie jumped up with a little gurgle of joy and ran ahead of her
mother to the flower. This was better than playing "secret" with
Rosie and Eva and the other gi