aby
birds until their feathers grow, and when they are old enough they fly
away from their home and begin life by themselves.

Many questions will be asked as the mother tells the story in her own
words, and the correct answers to these questions will fill in all the
difficult-to-understand points. The story of how the fish lay eggs in
shallow water so that the sun may keep them warm and hatch them out will
interest also. Be careful to impress upon them that there is always a
mamma and a papa, a male and a female bird and fish,--that this is
necessary because God made it so, and we must obey His wish. When the
little girl fully understands the story of the egg bird, and egg fish,
the mother can tell how the Creator thought out a different plan for
other animals like the dog, horse, lion, elephant, and cow. He knew that
it would neither be safe nor possible for these animals to stay at home
long enough to sit on eggs and hatch their babies, so he made a nest for
them inside of their bodies. There they would be warm and would always
be with their mammas no matter what they were doing. So we come to the
answer to their question: "Where do babies come from?"

These interesting stories, according to the intelligence and sincerity
of the mother, can be taken advantage of, to impress the little girl
with the importance of many of the lessons of life. For example, her
attention can be drawn to the fact that man and woman are the highest
types of living things that God made. No other living thing, animal, or
fish, or bird, or tree, or flower, can talk, and think, and reason as
man and woman can. Because of this faculty--to think and reason--the
human family are always trying to find out what can be done with all the
other things God made. We try to find out what the different rocks are
good for; what the different trees are good for, and the different kinds
of earth, and animals, and birds, and fishes, and everything in the
world. We study these, and we learn much, and we are made happier and
more comfortable by what we learn. For example, by studying horses, and
feeding and breeding them carefully, and training them, and caring for
them, we can make stronger horses and better and faster horses; by
studying trees, and planting them in soil best suited to them, and
giving them plenty of water to drink, we can compel these trees to grow
better apples and pears and peaches. In the same way we can produce
better strawberries, and o