Questions.—Why does smoke go up a chimney? What is smoke? What is there in smoke that you can see? What is soot? Tell how it is that the smoke is pushed up the chimney. What is said about the air in a room where there is a fire? What will happen to a light if you hold it near the fire-place? What if you hold it near a crack in the wall of the room? Tell about the rooms with folding-doors between them. Why do we open a door or a window to stop the smoking of a fire-place? Why is a fire-place not apt to smoke when the fire has been going for some time? Tell about holding a light at the lower part and at the upper part of a door that opens out into a cold entry. How is some of the air that presses toward a fire used? What is necessary to have a fire burn well? What is said about a building that is on fire inside? Tell the anecdote about the fire in a shop. Why do some factories have tall chimneys? What is said about the chimneys of some lamps?
CHAPTER XV.
USES OF WATER.
The beauty of water.
What a beautiful thing is water! How pure and clear, like a crystal! How “sparkling and bright it is,” as you see its ripples in the sun! How we admire it, as it is gathered in little dew-drops on the flowers and leaves in the morning! What a beautiful mirror the water makes when the wind is hushed, showing us on its smooth surface the trees, the houses, and every thing upon the shore!
Ice, snow, and frost.
And what beauty water has when the cold turns it into crystals in the ice, the snow, and the frost! It is the same pure, clean thing then as it is when it runs in the brook, or forms the dew-drop, or falls in the gentle shower.
Water the world’s cleanser.
How useful, too, water is! It is the world’s cleanser. It washes every thing. See how dusty every thing looks after a long dry time. Even the grass and the leaves are covered with dust. But let a brisk shower come, and how changed the scene! The trees, the flowers, and the grass look as clean, and fresh, and bright as the washed face of a beautiful child.
And then how the animals love to wash themselves in the water! See the dog rush into it, and then, on coming out, give himself a thorough shaking. It would be well if all children would be as fond of being clean as he is. It is amusing to see the canary bird take his morning bath in his cup of water. How he makes the water fly as he flutters his wings!