THE LIFE OF A PRIMROSE. 
173 
And so we came back to a primrose seed, the point 
from which we started; and we have a history of our 
primrose from its birth to the day when its leaves 
and flowers wither away and it dies down for the 
winter. 
But what fairies are they which have been at work 
here? First, the busy little fairy Life in the active 
protoplasm; and secondly, the sun- waves. We have 
seen that it was by the help of the sunbeams that the 
green granules were made, and the water, carbonic 
acid, and nitrogen worked up into the living plant. 
And in doing this work the sun-waves were caught 
and their strength used up, so that they could no 
longer quiver back into space. But are they gone for 
ever? So long as the leaves or the stem or the root 
of the plant remain they are gone, but when those are 
destroyed we can get them back again. Take a hand- 
ful of dry withered plants and light them with a match, 
then as the leaves burn and are turned back again to 
carbonic acid, nitrogen, and water, our sunbeams come 
back again in the flame and heat. 
And the life of the plant? What is it, and why is 
this protoplasm always active and busy? I cannot 
tell you. Study as we may, the life of the tiny plant 
is as much a mystery as your life and mine. It came, 
like all things, from the bosom of the Great Father, 
but we cannot tell how it came nor what it is. We 
can see the active grains moving under the microscope, 
but we cannot see the power that moves them. We 
only know it is a power given to the plant, as to you 
and to me, to enable it to live its life, and to do its 
useful work in the world. 
