THE COAL TO THE KINDLING WOOD 81 



" The plants bore no gay flowers ; they were of 

 the Flowerless Tribe, such as your ferns, mosses, 

 and horsetails, that carry but seed-dust spores and 

 wave no gay petal flags in the Flower Market 

 to lure the insect messengers. 



" Nature's garden was not ready for them ; the 

 solid earth crust that rose here and there above 

 the waters was yet thin ; heat and steam made 

 the plant growth thick ; the air was still heavy 

 with the gases that plants may suck, but that 

 may not be breathed by man. 



" Heart of Nature said : 4 Grow exceedingly,- ye 

 Flowerless Plants ; increase and multiply beyond 

 belief. Suck the poison from the air and purify 

 it; the Plan says it must be so.' 



" We grew and sucked and dropped our seed 

 and leaves, and grew again, until blackening 

 leaf and wood mould lay in deep layers, black 

 with the carbon the living plant had sucked 

 and stored away." 



" I don't see how air could turn into smutti- 

 ness," said Anne. 



" Go to the woods to-day and you will see 

 that it is so. Rub your hand on a smooth old 

 tree trunk, are not your fingers smutty? Look 

 at some dead ferns that lie sodden and beaten 

 into the mud, are they not blackening also ? 



