Page:The Complete Works of Lyof N. Tolstoi - 08 (Crowell, 1899).djvu/127

Rh hold of the soil, from the old roots new runners strike out; the trees and grasses begin to grow.

What does all this?

The sun.

The moles and bears come out of their lairs, flies and bees grow lively, gnats abound, fishes come out from their eggs into the warmth. What does all that?

The sun.

In one place the air grows warm, begins to rise, and into its place flows a colder air—there is a wind.

What does that?

The sun.

The clouds come up, they roll up and they separate, then there is lightning.

What makes those flashes?

The sun.

Herbs, grain, fruits, trees grow. Animals feed on them, human beings make their sustenance of them, and store them up for fodder and fuel against the winter; men build houses, railways, and cities.

What furnishes the material?

The sun.

A man builds himself a house. What does he make it out of? Of lumber. The lumber is sawed out of trees, the sun made the trees grow.

You heat a stove with fuel.

What produced the fuel?

The sun.

A man eats bread and potatoes.

What produced them?

The sun.

A man eats meat. What fed the animals, the birds? Grass, but the sun produced the grass. A man builds a stone house with brick and mortar. The brick and mortar were burnt with fuel. The sun produced the fuel.

Everything needed by man, everything that comes directly into use, is due to the sun, and much of the sun's heat goes into everything. Grain is necessary to