This pretty attention of her husband's pleased her so much that she
kept me in sight for many days. When shall I forget how soft and
light her pretty, neatly dressed feet felt, the first time she used
me?

For a long while I was her stove alone; but after a time, all sorts
of feet were put upon me, and life grew common and tiresome.

After my mistress's death, I was much neglected, for wise folks said
foot stoves should not be used. At last, the cook, who was no
invalid, and did not care for doctors, took me up, and soon began to
consider me as her property, and kept me in the kitchen.

One day, however, the farmer's boy brought in some heavy logs of
wood, and threw them down carelessly. One fell upon me, and smashed
me up, leaving me as you now see me. Here I remain shattered and
forsaken--nothing but an old broken foot stove that nobody cares
for.

I hope that those stout, good-looking and-irons will now tell their
story. They look to me just as upright and stiff and strong as when
I first saw them in our dear master's chimney corner. To be sure,
they are not so bright and shining as they were then, but they look,
in all other respects, just as they did then, and life has fallen
lighter on them than on your poor humble servant, the foot stove."

The andirons were now called upon to entertain the company. "We have
always had the comfort and blessing of living together," said one of
them. Indeed we should not be good for any thing apart. A pair of
andirons belong together as much as the two parts of a pair of