AS RELATED TO RELIGION. 133 



or the rose, to see there the wonderful machinery 

 fitted for a specific work, the production of the 

 seed ? In the center of the flower, completely sur- 

 rounded, secured from danger, are the first sketches 

 of seeds now mere points, but each one fitted to 

 receive an independent life. It has not yet come, 

 but the home is prepared for its reception. And 

 now another portion of the flower, the trembling 

 stamens, that seem tipped with golden points to 

 draw down the spark of life from heaven, give out 

 the gathered force locked in the floating, dust-like 

 grains of pollen. They strike the central organ, 

 and, as though drawn by an invisible power, thread 

 their way down long tubes and touch each seed 

 with the fire of independent life. The seed, no 

 longer a mere cell without life, now asserts its dig- 

 nity, and the parent plant, as though conscious of 

 its precious treasures, gathers with every power the 

 materials needed for the future growth of the young, 

 now cradled in the flower. And around that germ 

 of life the tree collects of its richest products the 

 salts, the starch, and the sugar which form the bulk 

 of the fully developed seed, making it a store-house 



12 



