XIII. The Oyster-Fish that Climbed on Shore
Why we can almost see him do it. What? Why see Mr. Frog change into himself from a fish!
Right under our eyes, if we have him in an aquarium, where we can watch him, he changes from a water animal that swims just like a fish, to a land animal that jumps like a rabbit, a robin or a kangaroo.
So, if we ever wonder whether all the different kinds of insects and other animals could have grown out of one common cell, we have only to think of the strangely different parts that frog plays on the stage of life, in his one little lifetime; and how he came to get into the habit of changing himself like that.
It isn't the frog alone that goes through such wonderful changes. Isn't that change from a lump of jelly in a limy shell into a downy beautiful creature with little wings and little feet and a little " chirp, chirp" just as strange? Or the change from the flower-seed to flower, and back to seed again, just as strange as either the frog's life story or a chicken's life story?
In the growth of everything in the world—all plants and all animals—there is this beginning in a lower form of life, and a growing up through higher forms. And all plants and all animals begin with the lowest form of life—with a single cell. This is the way of growth of everything: Flower seed to flower, and back again; little egg to little bird and back again to egg; egg to tadpole, tadpole to frog and back again to egg. Egg to caterpillar, caterpillar to butterfly, then to egg again.
And back again, and back again; always "saying it over" as if Mother Nature were afraid we would miss this wonderful story of the ages, and the great lesson of it all.
"You can change. You can be what you want to be. You can change your bones and muscles, but best of all, and fastest of all, you can change your minds and your hearts. You can do good things and great things today and better tomorrow, and all your life."
What has Mr. Frog to say about all this?
He says he agrees to every word of it. He says this by his actions—and actions speak louder than words. Like most other
