1. 'Don't you think,' said Harry, 'that a bit of coal would be a good thing for our mineral box?' 2. 'I do,' said his father. 'Get a little lump, and put it in. And, by the way, we want more coal on the fire. I must get some.' 3. 'How nice a fire is on a cold day!' said Dora, sitting down on the fender, to be as near to it as she could. 'Very nice,' said her mother, 'in its proper place—in the grate.' 4. 'Ah, we should not like it to come walking about the room!' said Harry, laughing. 'There would soon be no room'—— 'And no house!' said Dora, shaking her head. 'And then what should we do?' 5. Father came back with the coal, and put some into the grate, saying: 'Fire is a good servant but a bad master. If it gets its own way it is a cruel thing. It would burn a town down. It once burned big London.' 6. Harry was looking at one of the lumps that had been put on the fire. Smoke was coming out of it already. A flame burst out in front, and soon the whole lump was in a blaze. 7. 'It seems such a pity that it should all be burned up,' said Harry, 'when it took so long to make.' 'That is the way of fire,' said father, 'it eats up everything, and when it has nothing more to feed on it comes to an end—it goes out, we say.' 8. 'We don't want it to go out, and so we keep on feeding it,' said mother. 'It is like a wild beast in a cage.' 'Now look at the coal!' said father. 9. By this time the lumps were red and very hot. The children went down on their knees to look for pictures in the fire. They soon saw what looked like men and dogs, rocks, hills, and trees, and at last a great cat with red-hot eyes and a very curly tail. |