Jay Traver 



Did you ever know that flowers had treasure- 

 boxes ? When I was a little girl I had a treasure- 

 box, and what do you suppose I kept in it ? 

 Bright-colored bits of broken dishes and tiny 

 pieces of colored glass. But the flower has better things than 

 that. It has many tiny seeds in its box. Here is the poppy 

 that Lester brought us this morning. We notice its bright 

 scarlet petals first. But look at the little green box just below 

 the bright petals. That is where the poppy keeps its treasures. 

 Let us play that the poppy wall tell us a story about them: 



Once upon a time I was a little, tiny, hard, brown seed. One 

 day someone planted me in the moist warm, earth and before 

 long I began to grow. First I sent two little leaves up into the 

 sunshine, and then more leaves grew, and more. Don't you 

 think my leaves are pretty ? They helped me to get my food too — 

 some day I'll tell you more about that. Then after a while my 

 blossoms began to grow. At first they were buds — just like this 

 one here. See how the stem above the bud bends over. And 

 see how carefully I wrapped up the baby bud in its soft green 

 blankets — just as carefully as mother wraps up Baby Brother. 

 When it was big enough the stem became straighter and the 

 blankets fell off, so the bud could spread out into a flower, with its 

 pretty red petal dress. But you will have to watch very closely 

 and be up early in the morning if you want to see the blankets 

 fall off. Perhaps tomorrow morning you will see how it is done. 

 Why do you suppose my blossoms wear such pretty dresses? 

 Perhaps you can find that out too, if you watch near a poppy bed? 

 By and by, when the sun begins to feel warm, along comes Mrs. 



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