June 1, 190% 
The Young Folks. 
A Few Seeds. 
Have you ever been inside a bank, and 
Seen there the piles of gold coins? How 
the clerks shovel those sovereigns and 
half sovereigns about, as though they were 
Hot at all afraid of them! Suppose, now, 
You were offered a small handful, and 
I, standing by, said, ‘No, take these few 
‘Seeds instead.’ How you would laugh at 
me! ‘Of course’ you would reply, ‘we 
choose the money, for we know the worth 
of it. Itcan do so much. It can buy 
things we like or want.’ 
Quite true! And yet, children, the 
Seeds may be more precious than the 
‘Sovereigns. When you have spent the 
gold, you have done with it. But when 
-you have sown the seeds, you are only 
beginning with them; they are not gone, 
You must watch for what the sun and 
Tain, and the kindly soil, 
them, Perhaps they will become lovely 
flower, or useful herbs, or graceful shrubs. 
These, again, will have their own seeds 
which can be planted too. 
there is no end to them, because, unlike 
the coins, they hold life. We know, as 
you say, what the money is able to do or 
buy. None can tell, however, the worth 
of seeds, 
can make of 
So, you see 
But, to begin with, they are of various 
Sorts and sizes, and have different cover- 
ings. There is the chestnut, for example 
Whose ‘burr’ is as prickly as a hedgehog, 
aud there are peas and beans, that form 
Neat rows in pods, Cotton seeds have 
‘Quite a soft bed to lie in, and the thistle 
Seed has downy wings to fly with. 
Certain fruits, such as apples, pears, 
Plums, and peaches, have the seeds buried 
inside them, while well-known flowers 
Cover theirs beneath the leaves. Not- 
Withstanding these varieties, however, all 
Seeds are alike in some important ways, of 
Which we are now going to chat. 
Let me show you. Suppose that 
“Underneath the ground I have put a grain 
°f wheat. When quite hidden it begins 
to stir and turn round.. It throws out 
two threads or fibres—one upward for the 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
stalk, and one downward for the root. 
Thus it goes on, through many days and 
nights, drawing food from the earth and 
air, getting bizger and stronger, according 
to a fixed pattern. At first, outside the 
soil, it looks like a blade of green grass; 
but presently there is a rising stalk, and 
then the future ears, each folded delicately 
in its sheath, until the farmer has count- 
less little packets of flour, in their water- 
proof cases,ready for use, all over his 
field. If you had planted a gold coin, or 
even a sparkling jewel, the former might 
have rusted and the latter become dim, but 
neither would have grown. 
ber there is life in the seed. 
Now your words and acts are like 
seeds, because they also have life in 
them. It may have never struck you 
before, yet when things are said or done 
that is not the end of them. They often 
seem to come up again, as if they were 
plants, and last much longer than you 
desire or expect. Some thoughtless 
remark of yours, which was not meant at 
For, remem- 
the time, and quickly forgotten by you, is 
heard again and again. It goes on vexing 
people, and causing you trouble, perhaps 
for weeks and months. While you may 
have known a kind little deed not only 
cheer and help the person for whose sake 
it was done, but lead to a great deal of 
good. 
The governor of a prison had under his 
care a number of very bad children. Poor 
thing ! Their parents were criminals, and 
they had never been taught anything 
good. The first thing he did was to treat 
them well, and speak gently to them, 
Soon, they all burst into tears, knelt down 
before him, and promised to do whatever 
he wished. Thus he won them by kind- 
ness, for they were not wholly wicked. The 
seeds. of wise patience were duly sown, and 
the harvest was not a failure. 
Our next point surprises everyone, and 
rot the least those who h ve thought most 
about it. Seeds multiply so fast. Take 
a single grain of wheat, the 
ground, and then at harvest-time gather 
sow it in 
the ears it has produced, and next season 
plant all the grains again. Repeat this 
work for five or six years, you will be 
able to fill every suitable part of the world 
with corn thus grown. So it has been 
29 
carefully reckoned by those who under- 
stand. 
Other plants 2 are more wonderful still 
in this way. One sunflower has been 
’ known to yield four thousand seeds; and 
one thistle, during a single summer, as 
many as twenty-four thousand secds. 
Another strange fact about seeds is 
that the life in them can last such a very 
long time. Some have been kept for 
hundreds. and even thousands, of years 
without being killed. Then, being 
planted in the right kind of soil, they 
have sprung up as flowers or trees. I 
could give you many curious instances of 
this. 
Overin Egpyt, ages ago, they built 
the great pyramids as tombs for their 
kings, When a Pharoah (as you recollect 
each was named) died, they ‘embalmed’ his 
body with spices ana wrapped it in 
cloths,and put it respectively on its 
proper shelf. Usually, also, with these 
‘mummies’ were placed grains of wheat, 
Now, after perhaps twenty-five centuries 
the tomb is opened, the dried body 
brought to the British Museum in Lon- 
don, and the corn may be sown in the 
ground. Positively, it will grow up into 
wheat just like any that was harvested 
from the fields last season. 
Be sure to tell your teachers of these 
facts, I have good reason for asking you 
to do so. Children may never think of it 
but those who love them are often 
troubled and anxious. Much is taught in 
school and at home about God and His 
word, about Jesus and His work, and yet 
a great deal seems invain. Teachers and 
preachers—and parents, too—fear lest 
their words have had no effect, They may 
enter your minds and hearts, as seeds are 
buried in the ground; but where is the 
fruit? Are you getting any real good? Are 
you growing better? 
A minister who thought of this some- 
times was asked to visit a dyiug woman. 
He knew that she had been living amongst 
irreligious people, and he went, fearing 
she might not know of God’s love. But, to 
his surprise, he found her a happy 
Christian, ready to go to heaven. 
* Ah,’ she said, ‘when I was a child I 
had a faithful teacher, and from her in 
the Sunday-school I learned the truth.’ 
‘Did your teacher know?’ asked the 
minister. 
‘I fear not,’ was the answer. ‘I was 
not good to her, and caused her much 
disappointment, But since I have been 
ill, I took my Bible and went over all'she 
used say, and I have found Jesus as my 
Saviour.’ 
