Celebration of Women Writers

Zur Mühlen, Hermynia, 1883-1951

Guests in the House

   http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/ presents:  Came the Stranger by Hermynia Zur Mühlen (1883‐1951) London: Frederick Muller, 1946.  No translator named.  No indication that the work was translated.  Reproduced with permission of Patrik von zur Mühlen.   German title:  Als der Fremde kam.   Vienna: Globus Verlag, 1946.  [The German edition appeared after the book's publication in English.]  Dr. Patrik von zur Muehlen Trierer Strasse 57 D-53115 Bonn Germany    Dear Mrs. Ockerbloom,  Professor Gossman asked me to inform you about the copyright problems concerning the books of Hermynia Zur Muehlen. Indeed, these problems seem to be very murky, but I can help you to clear them up. The marriage of Hermynia and my great-uncle Viktor von zur Muehlen was dissolved in 1920, so that neither the family as a whole nor any member of it is entitled to the copyright of her novels, fairy tales, essays etc. In 1938 she married her second husband Stefan Klein, a citizen of Czechoslovakia; he died nine years after her in 1960 – as we know – without a testament. They had no children, and neither had brothers or sisters who could claim the copyright.  The Publishing House – the Malik Verlag – where most of her books were published belonged to the Communist Party; it does not exist today. Moreover, German copyright had a validity of 50 years (now 70 years) and Hermynia Zur Mühlen died in 1951; hence no other publisher, such as S. Bermann Fischer, or anybody else, can enter a protest against any form of reprinting, re-editing or republishing of her books; the books are available for everybody.    With respect to her translated books there we have the same situation. As I know, all of her books were translated by herself anonymously or under a pseudonym (i.e. Lawrence H. Desberry), perhaps revised by a native speaker.  In the last fifty years many of her books have been reprinted or republished without any problems. In many cases the publishers asked me or relatives of mine and always we gave the same answer. I would much appreciate seeing her works published, whether  printed or posted to the internet or in any other form.   Sincerely yours   Patrik von zur Mühlen       

Came the Stranger

   http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/ presents:  We Poor Shadows by Hermynia Zur Mühlen (1883‐1951) London: Frederick Muller, 1943.  No translator named.  No indication that the work was translated.  Reproduced with permission of Patrik von zur Mühlen.   Original German title:  Ewiges Schattenspiel.   First serialized in the Swiss newpaper Der Bund (Bern), 8 November 1938 ‐ 7 March 1939.  Dr. Patrik von zur Muehlen Trierer Strasse 57 D-53115 Bonn Germany    Dear Mrs. Ockerbloom,  Professor Gossman asked me to inform you about the copyright problems concerning the books of Hermynia Zur Muehlen. Indeed, these problems seem to be very murky, but I can help you to clear them up. The marriage of Hermynia and my great-uncle Viktor von zur Muehlen was dissolved in 1920, so that neither the family as a whole nor any member of it is entitled to the copyright of her novels, fairy tales, essays etc. In 1938 she married her second husband Stefan Klein, a citizen of Czechoslovakia; he died nine years after her in 1960 – as we know – without a testament. They had no children, and neither had brothers or sisters who could claim the copyright.  The Publishing House – the Malik Verlag – where most of her books were published belonged to the Communist Party; it does not exist today. Moreover, German copyright had a validity of 50 years (now 70 years) and Hermynia Zur Mühlen died in 1951; hence no other publisher, such as S. Bermann Fischer, or anybody else, can enter a protest against any form of reprinting, re-editing or republishing of her books; the books are available for everybody.    With respect to her translated books there we have the same situation. As I know, all of her books were translated by herself anonymously or under a pseudonym (i.e. Lawrence H. Desberry), perhaps revised by a native speaker.  In the last fifty years many of her books have been reprinted or republished without any problems. In many cases the publishers asked me or relatives of mine and always we gave the same answer. I would much appreciate seeing her works published, whether  printed or posted to the internet or in any other form.   Sincerely yours   Patrik von zur Mühlen       

We Poor Shadows

Dansville, NY: F. A. Owen Publishing Company, c190

Chase, Annie

LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 1Author’s PrefaceAnna Botsford Comstock of the Bureau ofNature Study at Cornell University says : “Trulythe child cares very little about the forms ofthings. He is more interested in what things do.”J. M. Coulter of Chicago University says:“They [plants] are as much alive as are animals,and so far as mere living is concerned they livein much the same way.”This little book has been prepared with a viewto interesting the little people in the behaviorof plants at home, the author believing that therethe growing things teach their choicest andmost broadening lessons.      A. C.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE2LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 3WHERE DO THE LITTLEPLANT PEOPLE LIVE?Plants! Plants! Plants!Plants all over our big world!Plants on the land!Plants on the water!Some of these dear little plant peo-ple love to live high, highup among the mountains.There the wind is mer-ry and often rough in his play.There  the  sunbeams are br ightand strong and go dancing up, up,up  s teep  rocky  s l opes ,  o r  down ,LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE4down, down, into dark places be-tween the rocks.Oftentimes big rocks plunge downthe mountain side, crushing everylittle flower in their path.But the little plant people of themountains love their home and willhave no other.Some little plant people love bestto live down in the low-lands between themountains.There the wind is gentle in hisplay.There the sunbeams are warm andbright.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 5Some other plant people—most ofthese are dwarfs—love to live up onthe hillside and even up on the sidesof the gray old rocks themselves.Other plant people love the mead-ow lands.There the winds,have the jolliest ofjolly times.There the sunbeams sparkle sowith fun they make the brook laugh.No wonder the plant people of themeadow love their home and willhave no other.Still other plant people love to livein the woods.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE6There the winds put on theirgentlest manners.There the sunbeams are soft andtender and the shadows,long and cool.Some little plant peo-ple live in the ponds and ditchesand streams and have the oddestballoons and sails to keep themselvesafloat.Other  p lant  peop le—many o fthese are giants—love to live in damp,hot, sunny swamps. Others live inthe deep, wide, salty sea.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 7WHAT ARE ALL THEPLANTS DOING?Every plant on the mountain, inthe lowlands, on the hills, in themeadows,  in the woods,  in thestreams, in the damp swamp, and inthe deep wide sea, has work to do.Every plant must feed itself.Every plant must see that whenitself shall die a new plant just like itshall come to take its place on theearth.Oh! What a task!Yes ;  and you can never  f ind aLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE8lazy plant though you seek the wholeworld over.No plant was ever known to frownor cry or pout because of hard work.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 9PLANTS AT SCHOOL.Do the plant folks go to school ?Oh yes ;  the i r  s choo l  room isroofed with the blue, blue sky.The breezes, the brooks, and thebirds, do the singing in the plantschool.The sun does a great deal of theteaching.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE10Every plant, little or big, can standor sit or lie down in school, just ashe likes.What do plant scholars study ?Cooking! They learn how to find,mix and cook their own food.The big grown-up plants and thebabies all study the same lessons,and if the lessons are not learned theplants die.That frightens you! It does notfrighten plant people; they find thelessons as easy as you do the eatingof ice cream.It is great fun for a little plant tomix together air and water and someLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 11things he finds in the soil and makehis own food. He does all this insuch a nice way that there are nodishes to wash, no tables to set, andno silver spoons to keep bright. FIRST DAYS AT SCHOOL.One day the seeds were droppedinto the soil.That same day the baby plantsinside the seed shells began to go toschool.The first thing they learned wasto take in water.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE12This they did till you would havelaughed to see how round and rolypoly they looked.When they  were  swol len  justenough, they learned—I cannot te l lyou how—that they needed some-thing to eat.That something was down in thesoil.“We must have a tool to dig inthe soil with!” cried all the babies.“Make your own tools,” cried thesun. “Make your own tools; you canif you work hard and fast.”“All right, we can make them,”said the plant children.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 13“Roots are good tools,” cried theyall; “let’s make roots.”“We will,” cried a plant in-side an acorn shell, “and thesoil will help us.”The soil did help the plant childrenand the plant children helped them-selves till there was the acorn childwith a fat white root backing out ofthe end of her shell.There was a bean with a nice littleroot growing           right out of herside.Pumpkin Seed had a root growingout at the small end of her shell.Al l  these  and a  hundred otherLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE14first grade children had roots thatnight when the sun went down.“Good ! ”  c r i ed  the  sun ;  “We l ldone, little people; by and by youshall come up to the light.”“If we dig very hard with thesesoft roots we shall soon spoil them,”cried Bean.“We must make the tips of ourroots hard and strong,” said Acorn.“Yes, put tips on them,” cried aSun Flower child.Then all the children fell to workand made hard tips to wear at theends of their roots.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 15“Bravo!” cried the Sun Teacher,“Now for a new lesson.”“We must have light;” cried theAcorn child.“L ight !  l i ght !  p l ease  g ive  uslight!” cried all the children.“Work for it; earn it yourself;”said the Sun Teacher.Then all the little plant childrendug in the soil with their roots ashard and as fast as they could.With their roots they found theycould draw up food somewhat asyou draw up lemonade through aquill.This food made them grow larger.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE16“Light! light! Where is it? Howare we to get to it? We feel it upabove us.”“Light! give us light, so we cangrow faster!” cried the plant children.“See me,” said the Bean child, “Ihave left my shell altogether; I wishto spread myself out in the light.”“Stems will push us up into thelight,” cried all the plant children.How did they know this? “Stemswill push us up, let us make stems.”Then all these first grade littlefolks made themselves stems fromthe food they drew up through theirroots.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 17“Now for a push and a pull,” criedthese brave little folks.They pushed, and the light upabove helped them by pulling, tillthere were ever so many odd littleloops made of their stems pushingup above the soil into the light.The Sun Teacher kissed every oneof these brave little pupils.“We too must get our tops up inthe light,” said Acorn.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE18“Yes,” cried all the little plantfolks, “now for another pull.”Then all of the little plants madetheir stems longer and longer, strong-er and stronger, and how they didpull, till—hurrah! there they all wereout of the soil, spreading their topswhere the sun could smile on them.“Light! light! hurrah! Here we arein the light!” cried all the pupilstogether.Then all the older scholars—thetrees and vines and shrubs—clappedtheir hands and the winds whisperedall sorts of pretty and pleasant thingsto the baby class.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 19MORE LESSONS.No sooner had the little plantfolks learned these lessons than theSun Teacher and the air began toteach them others.“We need something more,” criedthe little plants. “What is it?”“It is not enough that we draw upfood from the soil,” said the Acornchild. “We must mix other thingswith it and cook it in the Sun.”“How shall we do that?” said aPumpkin child.“We must make us something toLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE20cook in,” cried all the class together.“What shall it be?”“Leaves! leaves!” cried the Acornchild, “we can spread our food outin leaves and cook it in the sun.”Then the whole class fell to mak-ing leaves; the air helped them, thesun helped them, their roots helpedthem, their stems helped them, suchleaves as they had brought withthem from out their shells helpedthem, till they grew so strong and sowise that they learned the hardestlesson of all.They learned how to make leavesfrom their food and how to bringLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 21more food up into the leaves andchange it to more and better food inthe sun.Then how the brook did babble,how the birds did sing, and howhappy the little plants were withtheir first pretty green leaves!LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE22SOME SECRETS ABOUTTHOSE LEAVESNo wonder the plants were proudof their leaves.They had made them very cun-ningly.They had made them with littlecells to hold food and water andwith little openings in them to letair and moisture out and in.Then they had covered the wholewith a nice little waterproof covering,both to keep water in and to keep tooLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 23much water from soaking in fromthe outside.Then they had made a stem forevery leaf so it could hang all by it-self out in the sunshine.Take care, Wind, do not shakethose new leaves too roughly.Take care, little girls and boys, donot break and waste such preciousthings.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE24THE BEST LESSON OF ALL.After the first leaves it was easyto make more and more and more,then more stems and branches.Then these bright little pupils be-gan to think of something else.“We must take care that we leavesome seeds  so  there  wi l l  be  newLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 25plants to come to this school nextyear,” said they.“We must build something verysafe and snug to make and storeseeds in,” said they.First, these plants, now grown tobe artists, made little green buds.In secret they worked at the insideof the little green buds, bringing upjust the right food and the right colorto make beautiful forms and tints.Then one day,  when the SunTeacher was kindest, the winds softand the sky blue, the buds burstopen.Oh joy! what a sight! Little greenLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE26cups holding up such silky, brightcolored blossoms! blossoms holdingup in their centres suchpret ty  l i t t le  s tems witht iny yellow pocket booksfastened to the end of each stem !Each one of the pocket books wasfull of yellow dust more preciousthan gold.These stems with the pocket booksstood all around another stem whichhad a sticky knob on the top allready to catch the yellow dust.“Come bees,” called the busy plantfolks,  “come! come and help us;come this way! this way!”LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 27Then the plants waved their gayblossom banners in the breeze tillthe bees afar off saw them and camehurrying up. “Buzz!  buzz!  honey!  There isalways honey hidden under suchpretty banners,” said the bees.“Where is it? Where is it?”“Oh! we smell it!”Then the bees blundered about in-side the blossoms till they shook thegold out of the pocket books andrubbed it right on the sticky knob onthe stem at the center.“Thank you! thank you!” said theplants as the bees buzzed off. “ThankLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE28you!  Now we can make some seeds.”Sure enough, the seeds began togrow down below the sticky knobbecause the gold dust put newlife into them—in the nicestlittle boxes you ever saw.Bean had a pod box and—wellyou can see all the boxes for your-selves by looking about you.Some of the plants put hooks ontheir seed boxes so they could clingto things and so carry the seeds fromplace to place.Other plants made air boats fortheir seeds and others—you can findthem all out for yourselves.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 29A FUR COVERED BUNDLE.Lady’s Slipper (wild tu-lip), that pretty pink floweryou find growing in shadynooks under the trees, wearsfurs—or is it green velvet?She comes up with a littlevelvet roll of green lookingfull of mystery.What can be done up in that fuzzybundle?The bundle unrolls a little; it is aleaf with another precious furry bun-dle done up inside of it.The second bundle unrolls a little!LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE30Aha ! there is a furry stem inside;on the end of the furry stem is a furryknob.Up pushes the stem for the sun iswarm and the spring winds are verysoft and gentle.The knob unrolls! a slipper! aslipper! a little pink slipper with pinkfur at the ankle part to keep off theinsects! Is it for some sweet little Cin-derella of the green wood?LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 31PLANT FURSMany of the plants wear furs tokeep out the cold. The furs keep inthe moisture too, and keep insectrobbers from coming into the honeystorehouse to steal.You would laugh to see an ant try-ing to climb a furry stem for honey.He climbs up one step; he fallsdown three steps; he tries it again;he gets tangled in the fur; it brusheshis eyes unpleasantly, till, at last,down he tumbles and, brave as he is,he has to give up that drop of honey,LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE32though he can smell it so plainly farup there in the pretty flower cup-board.Sometimes the furs are placedalong the stems and upon the leavesto keep insects from eating the greenparts of the plant.Hepatica wears long silky whitefurs on her new tender spring leavesand stems.She has shorter, stouter furs onthose hard tough leaves which shekept green all winter.You can think of dozens of plantsthat wear furs: Pussy Willows,Primroses.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 12002An Elfin Press e-reprint

Little Plant People, Part I

or LPP Part II;  Dansville, NY: F. A. Owen Publishing Company, c190

LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 1I N S T R U C T O R  L I T E R A T U R E  S E R I E SLittle Plant People at Homeand What they are Doing TherePart IIBYAnnie ChaseF. A. OWEN PUBLISHING COMPANYDANSVILLE, N.Y.Copyright 1905, World’s Events Publishing Co.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE2LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 3A PLANT WHO LIVES ONTHE HILLSIDE.Little early Saxifrage lives up onthis dry hill close beside the big rock.See how wise and cautious she is.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE4She has made her leaves with veryfew openings or pores in them sothey shall not lose much moisture.Water is scarce up on this pasturehill.See how closely she lays her leavesdown upon the ground in a littlerosette.She does this to keep the sun fromdrinking up the moisture around herroots.Her roots are fine as the finesthair ,   but how many ofthem there are! She madethem threadlike becausethere is so little soil hereLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 5on the rock for her to push themthrough.She made a great many, so as todrink up all the moisture she canfind.She has a strong root stalk justthere between the roots and theleaves. So strong is this and thosetiny hair roots that, as they grow,they often split great rocks in pieces!The spring rains  and melt ingsnows helped this little dweller onthe rock.She comes up in spring with abud snuggled down in the middle ofher leaf rosette.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE6She opens her blossoms close downto the ground. Then as the windsgrow kinder, she pushes up the wholecluster on a pretty, furry stem.This fur on the stem is put thereto help keep the stem moist, and tokeep these ants here on the rockfrom crawling up and carrying offher honey.She wishes to keep her honey forthe bees, because the bees will helpher make seeds; the ants will not.Spring Everlasting is another littleplant who loves the dry, old pasture.She has furry thick leaves and thelittle blossoms come up, their headsLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 7nestled into little furry hoods to keepout the cold spring winds.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE8A PLANT WHO LIVES INTHE WOOD.Little Anemone loves to live in thewood.She loves the long cool shadows.She loves the sheltering treesover her head.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 9She loves the mossy carpetsprinkled with dried leaves at her feet.She loves the quiet and the mois-ture of that pool not far away betweenthe maples.Anemone can have thin delicateleaves because her home is so moistand so sheltered from rude winds.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE10She can have tender roots too, be-cause the soil beneath her is lightand soft.If you pick the Anemones theywill droop in your hand before youreach home.The dear little things lose themoisture out of their leaf and stemcells.When the little cells which makeup the whole plant are full of thewater which comes up through theroots, the cells swell out plump andround making the plant firm andupright.When the water goes out of theLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 11cells their walls fall in and make thewhole plant limp.A PLANT WHICH WEARSA BONNET.The very first plant to come up inthe spring is the Skunk Cabbage.How this  odd plant  does lovewater! He grows in the bog besidethe frog pond so he can drink just asmuch as he likes.The blossom comes up first, anodd little knob with a big stripedpoke bonnet around it.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE12Is the bonnet  to keep out the cold?How different are his big juicyleaves and stems from those of theplants which grow on the hillside!LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 13A PLANT IN THEMEADOW[See Frontispiece]Down by the brook are the goldencowslip blossoms.  Their roots arein the water; their leaves and bloomsare in the new meadow grasses.Here is a secret: Plant leaves havelittle holes in them as you havelearned.  The holes are to let outand take in moisture and air.On either side of everyone of theselittle pores or holes are little lipsLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE14which open when the plant wishesto let out moisture, and  which closewhen it wishes to keep the moisturein.You wil l  f ind the brook andmeadow plants have ever so many ofthese pores and that they keep themopen much of the time.The hillside plants do not have somany and they keep them nearlyclosed except in too wet weather.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 15THEDANDELION.There is always something new tolearn of Dandelion though we studyher year after year.Dandelion can make her home any-where, by the dusty wayside, downin the wet meadow, on theLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE16pasture hill, in the orchard, or byour door stone.When she lives in wet places shehas thin leaves with many pores.When she lives in dry places shehas thick tough leaves with fewerand closed pores.When she lives on the hillside shehas short stems and her blooms areclose down among the mosses.When she lives in the meadowwhere the grasses are tall she makeslong, long stems for her blooms andfor her leaves that she may catch hershare of sunbeams and breezes.When the weather is damp sheLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 17closes her blossoms up tight so thatno harm can come to her preciousgolden dust.On such days Bee finds her doorsall locked and goes away disap-pointed.Do you know why she notches herleaves in that odd way she has? Itis so the sunbeams can fall on everyleaf.Do you know why dandelion’sstem will curl when you split it?Because the outside skin of thestem “pulls” one way and the insideskin pulls another way.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE18Rhubarb stem coverings will be-have in the same way.These stem coverings are like the leafcoverings — waterproof.ANOTHER PLANT INTHE WOOD.Close  by  Anemonegrows  the  False  So lo -m o n ’ s  S e a l .  W h a t  atender,  bright green shewears in her leaves!See  her  l eaves  areshaped and curved justLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 19right to catch the sunbeams as theypeep down to her between the treeboughs!How pointed her leaf is! It needsthat trowel point to help it pry upthrough the dead leaves.Here are some of her leaves whichhave come up through holes in thedead oak and beech leaves.We will take off your chains, littleleaves, and set you free.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE20JACK-IN-THE-PULPITHere is dear old Jack again.Have you heard him preach?Did you ever watch him makeLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 21berries, pretty bright red ones, to putin the con-tri-bu-tion box?You must let him grow in hisshady wood home all summer if youwish to have the fun of watchinghim.MAKING COLORS.One of the tasks which the plantsmust do every year is to make colorfor their blossoms.How can they do it?We can find out but little aboutthis secret of the flowers. The colorLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE22of the petals depends upon the sortof matter dissolved and taken fromthe soil into the sap of the plant.In the tiny cells which make up aviolet is sap of a purplish color, and,floating in this sap are tiny yellowishgrains.Upon the manner in which thesetwo are mixed together in the cells, depends the color of the violet’s petals.Beth found a poor little purplemeadow violet which had beenbrought from its home and carelesslydropped in the street.One petal had been cruelly tram-pled under foot and was quite white;LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 23the purple sap had all been crushedout of it.But why and how do the plantsgrowing on the same sandy hillsidealways gather their own and no othercolor from the soil?The wild rose draws pink, thesheep laurel crimson, the rock roseyellow, the violet blue or purple  orwhite, from the same spot.We do not know why this is sonor can we find out exactly.   It isone of the plant children’s secrets.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE24THE VIOLETSViolets of the hills, the plains, themeadows, the valleys, the mountains,the woodlands, and every violet hasa color of its own.T h e  e a r l y  b l u eviolet  smil ing upfrom the pastureand roadside whereit gathers in greatnumbers like thou-LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 25sands of gay little girls at a picnic,is blue purple.It flower stems are shorter thanits leaves.The marsh violet, whichyou often f ind by thebrook in the meadow, isa  pa le  l i lac  s t reakedwith purple veins.The primrose leavedviolet has white petalswith purple veins.The lance leaved violet of meadowand streams has white petals.The Canada violet is a pale pur-plish white.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE26Bird’s foot violetcomes nearest  towear ing  the  r ea lsky  b lue .  I t  i st inged  w i th  so f tpurp le  and  wearsa b i t  o f  br ight  ye l -low which is  verybecoming .W h e n  y o u  f o l -l ow  the  wood  paththrough some damp shaded spot onthe edge of a bog or to where it leadsout to the meadow lands, you willfind the sweet scented white violet,which is all white except for a fewLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 27purple veins near the center.The hairy leaved yellow violet hasyellow violet and yellow petals.The Prairie Violet is pale blue andits leaves are much like those of theBird’s foot violet.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE28LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 29BATTERIES IN BLOSSOMS.High Laurel has ways so droll theymust make the bees laugh.Every Laurel bloom has nine or tenstamens.On the end of each stamen is hunga tiny purse full of gold dust.Each one of thesepurses is tucked into aw e e  p o c k e t .  E a c hp o c k e t  i s  l i n e d  w i t hpink.You can see the purses on the in-side of the blossom.LITTLE PLANT PEOPLE30You  can  seethe pouch - likepocket from theouts ide  o f  theblossom.These purses are thus tucked awayto keep them safe from insect robbers.Lest these pockets should not besafe enough for the purses, Laurelcovers her blossoms with stickygum.If a robber ant tries to clamberboldly over this he is caught andheld fast.“Keep away, ant  robbers, keepaway! You will only carry the goldLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE 31dust down to the ground  where itwill be wasted.”“Come, bees, come; you will helpto carry the precious gold dust fromone bloom to another and so help usmake seeds.  Come, do come; hereis some sweet, sweet nectar for you.”Laurel puts the sweet nectar onthe end of a stem (the pistil) in themiddle of the flower, and thrusts thisstem far out where bee can reach it.Around the base of the stem Lau-rel draws a little pink circle, so thatbee can easily find the nectar.Bee soon comes; he alights on thepink circle, then up flies every littleLITTLE PLANT PEOPLE32This is a reproduction of a booklet in the possession ofElizabeth Allen.stamen, out flies every little pursefrom every little pocket, and awayflies the gold dust all over Bee’s backand thighs and wings and legs.“Why! why! ha! ha!” laugh thesunbeams dancing on the river intheir glee; “do see those flowers peltthat clumsy bee with pollen bullets!”Bee does not mind the pat pat ofsuch tiny soft bullets but keeps ongathering sweets until he has visitedevery flower and emptied everypurse.2002An Elfin Press e-reprint

Little Plant People at Home, and What They Are Doing There

Dansville, NY: F. A. Owen Publishing Company, c191

Little Plant People of the Waterways

Webster, Jean, 1876-1916

Williams, C. D. (Charles D.), 1875-1954

When Patty Went to College

Nesbit, E. (Edith), 1858-1924

Millar, H. R.

Harding's Luck

Eden, Lizzie Selina

A Lady's Glimpse of the Late War in Bohemia

London and New York: Macmillan and Co., 188

University of Pennsylvania

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