AND HIS PLANT SCHOOL 175 



his Paradox pupils a team of six young athletes. These he 

 placed in the hard earth along the street in front of his 

 dwelling. They must now do their best without further 

 training, and receive no nourishment other than that 

 gathered through their own efforts. 



Across the street opposite the athletes stood another 

 row of trees. These were the English walnut. They had 

 more than fifteen years the start of the Paradox and were 

 in highly cultivated soil; but the athletes had been in train- 

 ing, you know, so they must have felt quite sure of winning. 



In a plant school a race extends through a period of 

 years instead of a few seconds, as in a school for boys and 

 girls. 



How those young Paradox racers ran ! The slogan for 

 the race was "Smash the record," and they seemed deter- 

 mined to smash 'it. At the end of the third year such 

 enormously long arms had been sent out and such thick- 

 ness of body was displayed that they began to create quite 

 an excitement in the community. Even the passer-by ob- 

 served the swiftness. No doubt the other plant pupils 

 gazed with admiration across the fence at their team, and 

 as the wind whistled through their branches sang: 



"We will love you, l Doxies/ if you beat them, 

 We'll stand by you, ' Doxies/ if you don't, 



You surely are the cream, 

 You're the picked, the winning team, 



You're our own 'Doxies'!" 



