"Let me see," said Norah. "I think I can tell. A plant consists of several distinct parts, such as the root, stem, leaves, flowers, and so on, but any part of a mineral is exactly the same as another. Then, too, a plant lives and grows in the ground, but a mineral is not living matter, and it does not grow.""That"s very good," said Willie. "These different parts have different work to do for the plant. They are none of them alike, and none of them do the same kind of work as the others do. They are called organs. Teacher says an organ is some special part of the plant which has some special work to do.
"Ah, here comes Fred," he added. "We"ll all go out into the garden, and examine some of the plants for ourselves."Away they went, and found father busy as usual. As soon as he knew what they wanted, however, he found them the plants best suited to their purpose,and said they might go on with their chat without any fear of worrying him.
"Look," said Fred, as he knocked a plant out of the pot, and shook the soil away from it. "Here is a plant that has a root, a stem, and some leaves, but no other parts of any sort.