122 BOTANY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 



I would have said, at Nature's birth, 

 Let Acorns creep upon the earth ; 

 But let the pumpkin, vast and round, 

 On the Oak's lofty boughs be found," 

 He said and as he rashly spoke, 

 Lo ! from the branches of the Oak, 

 A wind, which suddenly arose, 

 Beat showers of acorns on his nose. 

 " Oh, oh !" quoth Jack, " the wrong I see, 

 And God is wiser far than me ; 

 For did a shower of pumpkins large 

 Thus on my naked head discharge, 

 I had been bruised and blinded quite ; 

 What Heaven appoints I find is right. 

 Whene'er I'm tempted to rebel, 

 I'll think how light the Acorns fell. 

 Whereas on Oaks had pumpkins hung, 

 My broken skull had stopped my tongue." 



ELEVENTH CONVERSATION. 



E. Our conversation to-day will be on the 

 adaptive power of nature, as shown in the ve- 

 getable kingdom and her various contrivances 

 for preventing the extinction of her children, by 

 the dissemination of seeds. You have noticed 

 the bursting of the capsules that contain the 

 balsam seeds, have you not ? 



L. Many a time ; when they are fully ripe 



