 
1. Some sprigs of ivy had been standing all the winter in a vase. The water 2. When spring came each spray began to put out buds. The buds were not all at the ends of the sprays, but came out also close to the old leaves. 3. At last there was a very small bud between every old leaf and the stem. When the first bud opened into a leaf, Dora and Harry clapped their hands, and called every one to look. 4. 'How clean and sweet it is!' cried Dora. 'And do you see something like wool or hair on it?' 'How curly it is!' said Harry. 'It is not quite open yet. Why, it is like a hand! All the leaves look rather like hands, don't they? See; one, two, three, four, five!' 5. 'Look at this old leaf against the light,' said the mother; 'now you can see the five long fingers. But people call them ribs, not fingers! They are for the purpose of keeping the leaf spread out.' 6. 'Like the ribs of an umbrella,' said Harry. 'They seem very strong; Spray of Ivy. Spray of Ivy. 7. Dora was holding up one spray after another to the light. 'What are all these pretty marks on the leaves, mother, lines crossing about all ways?' 'Those are veins, dear. They carry the sap that feeds the leaves.' 8. 'What is sap?' 'The blood of plants and trees.' 'Oh,' said Dora, 'then that is the wet that comes out when I pick a flower or cut a leaf! 9. 'But look at this!' and she held up one of the sprays. At the end of it was a little bunch of white, curly roots. Each root was not much thicker than a thread. 10. 'Don't touch them,' said the mother; 'roots are very tender things.' 'What is the good of them?' asked Dora. 'What is your mouth useful for?' asked her mother. 11. 'Oh, do you mean that the ivy eats and drinks?' 'Yes, that is what I mean. These roots take out of the water, or out of the earth, all sorts of things good for the food of the plant. They then send them up into the stem and on into the leaves.' 12. 'Mother,' said Harry, 'let us go and plant all this ivy. I am sure it wants to try the taste of the earth!' |
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