1.Rachel the cook had laid the kitchen fire,ready for next morning.She had given the grate an extra polish,put in a layer of crumpled paper and another layer of dry sticks,and then piled up the little heap of coals on the top to make a cheerful blaze in the dark winter's morning.She finished by placing the match-box on the top of the grate,and then went off to bed.
2.Jack,our sleek-coated jackdaw,had been perched on the end of the dresser watching Rachel,with his head very much to one side.He had set his heart on that box of matches.Jack quite understood the use of a match.Nothing pleased him better than to get hold of one in his strong,clever bill,and rub it very hard until he got a spark.
3.True,he was just as likely to rub the wrong end of the match as the right one;and when the match was at last lighted,he would be sure to hold it so near the burning end that it blazed up in his eyes and sent him off in a terrible fright.More than once he burned his toes severely,and nearly set the house on fire.
4.Rachel had forgotten all about Jack when she put the match-box on the grate,and the sly bird kept quiet till he had the kitchen all to himself.Then he hopped slowly along the whole length of the dresser,and thence,by the help of one of the kitchen chairs,made his way to the floor;for one of Jack's wings was clipped,and he seldom tried to fly.
5.The moonlight streaming in at the window lay in silvery patches on the floor.Jack walked across them,and tried to pick up one of the bars of light with his beak.After making several vain attempts,he gave it up.Then he hopped on the fender,eyeing the coveted match-box.
6.Very soon the bird was perched on the top bar of the grate beside his treasure.He took out match after match,held it firmly in the tip of his bill,and rubbed it hard on the bar.Several times he got a spark;but he tossed away a good many matches in disgust trying to make them light at the wrong end.
7.Presently Jack had a great success.A match not only snapped and cracked,but burned into a steady flame while he still held it in his beak;and he was so frightened that he dropped it in a great hurry,and hopped away to the top of the oven.The blazing match fell down into a little opening between the coals,and found its way to the paper and wood beneath.
8.Before it burned itself out the bright little flame laid hold of a bit of paper,ran along it,curling it up as it went,crept round a chip of wood with a little fiery tongue,and soon leaped up among the sticks,setting them all in a blaze.
9.Jack looked on in surprise.He liked a fire,and he had often seen one lit,but he had never before lighted one himself,and even now he was not,at all sure how it had been done.Presently the box of matches caught fire,and blazed up with such a hiss and a sputter that Jack was nearly frightened out of his wits.
10.Rachel was frightened,too,next morning when she came down to light the fire,and found that it had been lighted long ago,so long ago that all her fuel was burned up,and nothing was left but a few cinders in the grate,beside which the guilty bird was sitting.
11.Jack got his usual scolding,which,however,he did not understand;so instead of expecting him to take warning for the future,Rachel took care not only to keep the match-box out of his reach,but ever afterwards to use safety-matches.
THE JOLLY OLD CROW.
1.On the limb of an oak sat a jolly old crow,And chatted away with glee,with glee,As he saw the old farmer go out to sow,And he cried,"It's all for me,for me!
2."Look!look!how he scatters his seeds around;He is certainly kind to the poor,the poor.
If he'd empty it down in a pile on the ground,I could find it much better,I'm sure,I'm sure.
3."I've learned all the tricks of this wonderful man,Who has such a regard for the crow,the crow,That he lays out his ground in a regular plan,And covers his corn in a row,a row.
4."He must have a great fancy for me,for me-He tries to entrap me enough,enough;But I measure his distance as well as he,And when he comes near me,I'm off,I'm off!