26 
children of the big, grown-up plants), all other life — 
the life of all grown people, and of all children, and of 
all animals — would also come to an end. 
Did you ever stop to think of this, —that your very 
life depended upon these plants and trees? You know 
that they are pretty to look at, and pleasant to play 
about; but I doubt if you ever realized before, that to 
them you owe your life. 
Now let us see how this can be. What did you have 
this morning for breakfast? : 
Bread and milk? Well, of what is the bread made? 
Flour? Yes, and the flour is made from the seeds of 
the wheat. If the wheat stopped having seeds, you 
would stop having bread made from wheat seeds. That 
is plain enough. 
Then the milk, — where does that come from? 
“That comes from the cows, and cows are not 
plants,” you say. 
True, cows are not plants, but what would happen to 
the cows if there were no plants? Do not cows live in 
the green meadows, where all day long they munch the 
grass plants? And would there be any green meadows 
and all-day banquets, in years to come, if the grass did 
not first flower, and then seed? So then, no grass, no 
cows, and you would be without milk as well as without 
bread for breakfast. 
And so it is with all the rest of our food. We live on 
either plants or animals. If there were no plants, there 
would be no animals, for animals cannot live without 
plants. 
It is something like the house that Jack built, isn’t it? 
