Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson

“ Our dim eyes that just enable us to tell light from darkness, taught him how to see. Our five simple little hearts helped show how one larger heart could be made for him, to feed his brain and body, and to teach him to love all his little brothers of the water, the earth and the air. ”

“ The kangaroo's hind leg, foot and big toe are as wonderful, in their way, as the elephant's trunk.
A long, long time ago, when there were big, fur-covered elephants on the earth, there were also kangaroos as big as hippopotamuses,with heads three feet long. Perhaps it was these huge jumping beasts that started the story of the giant, who wore seven league boots and could step over small mountains. Why, a kangaroo six feet high of today can leap over a horse and rider, and then get away by jumping as fast as the horse can run. ”

“ When a kangaroo wants to go across his pen he doesn't waste time in hopping. He just stretches up on his hind legs and leaps. If a frog was as big he might jump farther than a kangaroo, but he couldn't jump as high. It really must have been the kangaroo, and not the cow, that jumped over the moon and made the little dog laugh.
No wonder the kangaroo can jump so far and so high. He has the biggest and strongest hind legs, for his size, of any animal in the world. His hind feet are so long it looks as if he were sitting on his hind elbows At the end of the foot is the biggest big toe! ”

“ Sometimes the kangaroo drops on all fours and eats like a rabbit, hopping about on his hind legs like a robin. But it seems to be easy for him to pick up a carrot, hold it between his paws and eat like a squirrel. The keeper knows what he is about when he scatters the food, putting some choice bits in the farthest corners of the pen. ”

“ Kangaroo babies need that pouch. When they are born they are only an inch long—about as big as June bugs—and blind; naked and helpless. They cannot even suck their mother's milk, as kittens and puppies can. Their mouths fasten over the nipples inside the bag, and the mother pumps milk into them every so often. Theylive in the bag for months, scarcely moving. The first time they come out they must climb up and tumble over the edge of the fur pocket, like little birds leaving the nest. ”

“ They sprout just like all true seeds, sending cells down for roots and up for leaves. The crown of the root is the buried stem of the plant. In the leaf stems the cell walls lengthen and stiffen into woody fibres. In some way that no one understands, the air and water pipes of the plants learn also to do the work of bones strong enough to support long feathery leaves. Besides, the fern is the first plant that grew from seeds. The mosses make seeds and then go back to spores to make new plants, but the ferns make spores first, and then seeds to grow plants. ”

“ There is only one other animal in the world that has a pouch just like the kangaroo's. Curiously enough this little cousin of the Australian kangaroo lives in the southern part of the United States, and doesn't look much more like him than a cow looks like a camel. He is about twenty inches long and has a body much like the body of the 'coon or little tree-bear. He lives in trees, too. Little boys— especially little colored boys—down South, often catch him when he is a baby and bring him up for a pet. He's the cunningest, brightest little fellow, with one trick that you like to copy. ”

“ The fibres of the flax stem are so strong and fine they are woven into linen cloth. The stem of a fern leaf has so many of these tough fibres packed together that it is like wire. Fibres are strings of cells. Each little cell has a thin wall around it like the yeast cell, through which water can easily soak, and air pass. The plant used these strings of cells at first to soak up food and air, then to cling to rocks, then to make leaves and stems and roots and spores and seeds. Finally she bound them in bundles to help her stand alone.
The fern is nature's first effort to make bones in plants. ”

“ He doesn't walk very well, and takes to a tree as quickly as possible. His dingy white or gray fur is tipped with brown all over, so it is not easy to see him in a tree. He has a long, scaly tail like a rat's, but he can use it as a monkey uses his tail for climbing and swinging. He has the sharp, pointed face of a big rat, the naked ears of a bat, the five-clawed feet of a little bear, and the pouch of the kangaroo. He makes his nest in the hollow of a tree like a bear, but he doesn't leave the babies at home. Mama 'possum carries them in her pouch when they are small. ”

“ Find a fern leaf that is fully grown, in some shady spot in the woods. All around the edges of the underside, you will find little rusty spots. These are very regularly spaced, so you can easily guess there is some plan. If you look at them through a microscope you will see that they all grow from the ends of the veins, and are connected with the mid-ribs of the leaflet, and those mid-ribs with the main stem. ”

“ The amoeba has no feet, no stomach—no anything, you might almost say. If it needs a foot it makes it. When it wants to eat, it wraps itself around its food and one side is as good as the other for this "made to order" stomach. When we get up to the sea cucumber we find a little animal that has lungs and nerves and a stomach. To be sure the sea cucumber throws away its stomach when it gets excited, and then grows a new one.
Now, when we come to the worms, we find still better machines for living. Take the worms you call "fish" worms. ”

“ I say hearts, because worms have several hearts. The earthworm, for instance, has five. They are simple little hearts that answer his purpose very well, but they wouldn't do for you at all. You must have one heart with several parts, instead of five simple hearts. Whenever Nature wants anything better done, you notice, she turns it over to one part that will give the whole of its mind to it.
The earthworm has one vein and one artery. Both are tubes like those that carry blood to and from your heart. One runs along his back, above his tube-like stomach. ”

“ From these broad bases their bodies taper up in the oddest way, to narrow, sloping shoulders and small, deer-like heads. Their full bright eyes glance about, their rabbit-like ears stand erect, listening. ”

“ The largest are as tall as a man, and weigh one hundred and fifty pounds. The smallest aren't as big as a rabbit. Some live on wide plains, some in the mountains and others climb trees and feed on the leaves. Like antelopes, they bound away on the slightest alarm. If overtaken and attacked, they will fight. The giant kangaroo can kill a man or a dog with one slash of the big-toe claw. ”

“ The babies sit in a row, clinging fast with their claws to the fur. The father turns his long tail over his back, clear to the head. The babies wrap the ends of their little tails around his tail, and away they all go for a stroll.The 'possum is a night prowler. On still, bright, moonlight nights whole 'possum families are out in the fields, woods and swamps hunting for berries, nuts, grain and roots. They eat insects, field mice, little squirrels and birds' eggs, too. But, best of all, they love the sweet, frost-wrinkled fruit of the persimmon tree. ”

“ She cares for them as the kangaroo mother cares for her babies.
When 'possum babies are big enough to come out of the bag— oh, about as big as mice—they like to ride on the roof of the car. There are so many of them that part of the family climbs on the father's back and part on the mother's. ”

“ When the seed of any plant begins to grow, the first little shoot is so soft that you can mash it to a green paste between your fingers. Even a sprouting oak or maple is as soft as that. It has no bark. ”

“ A horse it will puzzle and frighten by jumping over it and back again. A small dog that annoys it, the animal is said to pick up in its fore-paws, carry to a nearby pond or brook, and hold under the water until it is drowned. ”

“ Living on grass, small plants and the roots of herbs, they take the place of the deer and antelopes of other countries. Like other grass-eating animals they live in herds with leaders, and are naturally very timid and peaceable. ”

“ The strings of cells that were simply water pipes and lungs, also become bones to hold it up. These bone tubes run right out to the tips of the leaves, growing smaller and smaller, as they have less to support. ”

“ In the water, also, there will be animals with backbones. Instead of feet they will have paddles or fins. Into the air will come animals with backbones, two feet and two fins, called wings. With these wings they will swim the air. ”