The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-11-15

gr a serial publication and wrote to
zfr. Forster: II mean to chirp away
~rtii I have chirped it up to-weii,
su.f shall say how man thousand
put other work interfered and
q. kcns, always saving OF name or a
tile which he had devised Or discov-
er,d and which jumped with his ideas.
dcler1nined TO use the title for a
5gamo" he called the story; but it grew
und@r his hand into something which
I'D little to do with fairies, but much
with human nature. The plot is hack
ncyed-has been used since tIis first
confessional story-teIler recited his
ir3a@jnfngs beside the newly IN
walls 0f the Tower OF Babel and will
he Used again and again as .ono =
human hearts are human and respond
11 the same emotions But never
Hllnd the plot or the wandering sen
fences which cause such agonies to
people who make granlTnars and books
&c rhetoric The Cricket on the
Hearth" chirps something which has
made it one OF the most popular of
Dickens works, and there is hardly
"a one which has in it SO much pure
humanity"
Tie kettle began it. Don't tell me
what Mrs. Perrybinele said. l know
letter. Mrs ~Perrybingle may leave
It on record to the end Of time that
she couldn't say which Of them began
II, but, I say the kettle did ought
20 know, I hope. The kettle began it,
full five minutes by the little waxy-
AGED Dutch clock II the corner, be-
'ore the Cricket uttered a chirp. AS
: h clock hadn't finished striking
and the convulsive little Hay1naker
on top of 1T. jerking away right and
Ieft With a scythe in ron Of a Moorish
palace. hadn't moved down half an
acre Of imaginary grass before the
cricket Joined in at all! It appears
that there was a sort of match, or
trial of skill, between the kettle and
the Cricket And this IS what led to
1t and how it came about Mrs.
P~errybingle going out into the raw
twilight and clinking over the stones
in her p~artens that worked innumera-
bic rough impressions Of the first
proposition in Euclid all about the
yard-Mrs- Perrybingle filled the ket-
tie at the water-butt. Presently re
turning, less the pattens-and q good
deal less, for they were tall and she
was but short-she set the kettle on
the fire.
In doing this Mrs. Perrybingle lost
her temper, or nislaid it for an in
slant, for the kettle was a~ggravatingly
obstinate and would not adjust itself
90 the top bar nor hear of ~acconlrno-
dating itself TO the knobs of coal 1t
would lean orwar with a drunken
air and dTibbie a very idiot of a ket-
ale on the hearth It was QuarreisoTne
and Kissed and spiuttered at the fire,
TO sum UP, the lid dropped Itself into
the interior of the quarrelsome kettle.
and the hull of the Roya George
never made half the resistance to
coming out OF the water that that lid
did when Mrs Perrybingle tried to
rescue it. When the rescue had finally
been accomplished the kettle took an
obstinate air and seemed to say, i
wort boil Nothing shall indDce ne
But Mrs ~Perrybingie had got her
temper back again and was smiling
at the fire. So the kettle began to
be good natured also, and, he Jolly
blaze uprising. showed the little hay
maker On the top Of the Dutch CLOCK
undergoing those frightful shakings
and trembIings which agbated him
when the clock was going TO strike.
And when the clock really did strike,
and a cuckoo looked out OF a trap
note six times to indicate the times
of day, the bird agitated the Hay
maker like a spectral voice-or nke
something wiry plucking at his legs.
1T was S O'CLOCK in the nome or Jonn
Perrybingle, III carrier. Therefore,
his plump little wife was beginningI
70 expect him home. and he kettle
having got all its good nature PACK
again. just as Mrs errybtngIe nao'
began TO spend the evening soclaiiy.
IT threw of ell nonsense ana ours,i
into a stream Of song 50 coy ana
hilarious as never yet maudii nisn'-
lngale formed the least Idea Oh
It's warm breath gushed forth IN
& little cloud that assembled graceIu,'y
ii few feet and then hung 0 the
chimney corner as its own domestlc
heaven: while the recently reDeiiiousI
lid began to dance a sort or jig ana
clattered like a deaf and dumb young
cymbal. That the kettles song was
an invitation to somebody who was ex-
pected. and was coming out Of the door
there could be no doubt Mrs. Perry-
bingle knew it perfectly as she SAT
before the fire and the kettle sang:
Its a dark night and the dead leaves
are lying by the a and above ali