Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-03-12

win begin TO oomo,n explained Joe,
quietly. Then there was a now cause
Of alarm. Jane became more and
more nervous--"fidgety. as her moth
er said--because. company was COM
ing, and her brother and his old tea
kettle " would be town-talk.m This
nearly stopped his proceedings, but he
managed to save his machine little
longer, James "yOung man" still de-
laying his expected coming; and as the
clouds Of steam began TO grow less and
less, with strange earnestness. that
even the thoughtless little ones re.
spected, Joe begged for only ten min
utes longer, and warned Jane and her
tongs away from interfering, in a tone
50 quietly stern, that she never thought
Of answering him, but sat down imme-
diately.
The girls went 70 work on their gram
mar lesson, but soon got back 10 the
kettle. Everybody'sT 81 thoughts spun
round that black, Kissing object lust
now. They talked a good deal about it,
but Joe did not appear 10 be listening.
The steam had stopped entirely, and he
was carrying q lighted shaving with
trembling hands toward the spout Of
the kettle. A brilliant blaze suddenly
lighted up the house.
Hurrahn' cried Joe "Sell your
box Of candles and buy yourself a new
gown, mother Hurrah for school and
shingles all winterl HurruhV'
why, Joer' cried his mother, some
thing sparkling in her eyes, "why, Joe,
/ didn't think It would burn so; but Il
does, and I'm glad Of il, too"
Little Moses and Judith skipped
about from one corner TO another, laugh
ing to know that something was not hid
there to catch them every time they
! ventured into the darkness. Joel came
in just then to James great satisfaction,
| though, perhaps, he did not help to q
/ correct grammar recitation on Monday.
Notwithstanding his presence, she did
not seem very seriously alarmed for
Joe's reputation. Joel looked on the
| blazing tea-kettle in amazement, and
with some trepidation.
May be it's bewitehedr' said he to
Jane.
20, don't know what Joe's been
doing to it, I'm sure" said the promis-
ing girl; " but guess It is light enough
to see to play CATS cradle" and so they
tried it.
why, Joe, you're a genius instead
Of a Ounce, do declarer' cried Debby.
This is an invention, and no mis-
take"
- You are all acting like a parcel Of
/ ounces" declared their father prepar-
| ing to go TO bed. @'Tain't no great
wonder that birch-bark should burn
after it's got afire, if it is in an old
tea-kettle. It'll all burn out in ten
minutes"
mo, Debby, I'm only Ounce" Joe
replied; "but you will soon see that it
will burn all the evening"
And it did. At bedtime the tea
kettle was taken from the crane and the
blaze extinguished- The next evening
it was hung on again-this time without
OppositiOn-and lighted after it got hot,
no time being lost in waiting for steam
to dry off, Joe split his shingles now
without delay, and never was there a
more diligent and happy fellow. To
ward the end Of the week the crust
burned of the cracks in the kettle,
whereupOn the light became more
brilliant than ever, for it streamed out
from every crack as well as from the
spout, and the black, old tea-kettle was
clothed in a mantle Of Pickering fire.
But Joe was afraid the shattered con-
stitution of his favOrite would hardly
hold together under so much excite
ment. So, on Saturday, he plastered
the cracks over anew, this time will
clay, and filled it with q new stock o.
birch-bark.
And thus he worked by his tea-kettlt
light all winter and got his schooling
too.
Here endeth the true history of the
first of all the gas factories.