'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.




OBJECT LESSONS.