“Why, Rollo, it is half an hour past your bedtime.”
So Rollo bade his father and mother good night, and went out into the kitchen once more to get his safety-lamp, to go to bed. He stopped, however, a moment, as he was going out of the door, to say,—
“Now, father, be sure and not forget to buy me some phosphorus.”
QUESTIONS.
What did Jonas say when Rollo told him about burning the iron filings? How did he make the filings? Did the experiment of burning them succeed? Why will not a large piece of iron burn in the flame of a lamp? What did Mr. Holiday say to Rollo’s proposal to hold the end of a knitting-needle in the lamp? Why will not the terms that are employed in common conversation answer for philosophical use? What is the meaning of ambiguous? What are the different meanings of the word burn? What is the difference between the words freeze and congeal in respect to the extent of their meaning? What question did Rollo’s mother ask in respect to the meaning of the word inflammable? What did Mr. Holiday say? What experiment did he perform to illustrate the two meanings? How was the question at last decided?
CHAPTER IV.
FIRE IN THE PASTURE.
A few days after Rollo’s father gave him the instructions on the subject of combustion which are contained in the last chapter, Rollo saw Jonas going across the yard about the middle of the afternoon, with a lantern in his hand. Of course Rollo called out to him with the usual question in such cases,—
“Where are you going, Jonas?”
“I’m going out into the pasture to set some heaps on fire.”