225 
fully, “ for my mother expects to find my little 
brother there.” 
The Leaf was silent. It knew nothing of another 
world. The life that animates the trees and flowers 
is divine, for it is the gift of God ; but they know it 
not. They look up to the Sun, and call him their 
Father. And their existence is as brief as it is 
beautiful. When they speak to us, they tell us of 
many wonders, and of marvellous beauty, but they 
themselves know not that beauty can never die, 
and that when lost to sight, it lives in the soul, 
which never forgets what it has learned. 
Mary saw that the flowers were made happy by 
this world, and that her dear mother was not; but 
her mother told her she would not change places 
with the flowers, for they could not live forever or 
learn wisdom ; but she should be happy by and by, 
if she were good. 
15' 
