86 CONVERSATIONS ON THE 



the camel : a little boy went to see some 

 wild beasts, and he was delighted with the 

 beautifully striped skin of the tiger, and won- 

 dered why the keeper had such an ugly beast 

 , as the camel in his collection, till his father 

 told him how cruel the beautiful tiger is, and 

 how useful the ugly camel." 



" Very true, my dear ; and I hope you will 

 remember always to try to find out what 

 the use of a thing is, and not pass it by or 

 throw it away, merely because it is not as 

 beautiful as some other things. However, 

 there is no reason why you should not admire 

 the flowers and cones of the magnolia ; see 

 here is a drawing of them." (See p. 84.) 



"Oh, what a curious cone ! Uncle Philip, 

 what are those little balls hanging down from 

 the sides ?" 



" Those are the seeds ; but before we come 

 to the flowers, let me tell you something about 

 the trees." 



"I remember you called them a class. 

 Are there many different kinds of magnolia, 

 then ?" 



" Yes ; thirteen, in all, have been discovered, 

 five of which belong to China, one to the 

 West Indies, and the other seven to this 



