AND HIS PLANT SCHOOL 117 



of little pupils grown from the seeds of the currant from 

 British Columbia, some of which showed great promise. 

 Their foliage was fine, and their deep pink almost scarlet 

 blooms were very attractive. Many of the flowers were 

 larger, and there were a greater number of blossoms in a 

 cluster than their parent had produced. S 



The teacher came one morning with some yellow dust, 

 which was given him by one of the little Britishers, and 

 placed it upon Hopeful's bright bloom, telling her to nour- 

 ish it, and to make a great big effort to throw off her bit- 

 terness and to become juicy and sweet. 



She heard a whisper as the Dollen touched her stigma. 

 It said, "Wake up and grow."J Then she realized that she 

 was learning her lesson. She^ad never had any one take 

 an interest in her before, and^no one had seemed to care 

 whether she advanced or not.^ 



The next season little pupils of her own were blooming 

 all around her, and as she compared them with the others 

 she had seen, it appeared to her that many of them were 

 in every way superior. She was sure she was right when 

 she saw the master placing tags upon some of them. And 

 again, when he came at fruiting time, he selected those 

 that had long clusters of fat, ripe fruit. By the way he 

 looked when he tasted them she knew her longing was to 

 be satisfied. 



Another year passed and the seeds from the chosen ones 

 were planted in large numbers. Selections were in time 



