"No, dear," was the smiling reply, "and I am afraid that the people who
make it are rather careless about their teeth.--You need not laugh,
Malcolm, because it is 'just like a girl,' for it is quite as much like
a boy not to know things which he has never been taught, and you must
remember that you have two years the start of your sister in getting
acquainted with the world. Perhaps you will kindly tell us of some of
the uses to which charcoal is applied?"

"Well," said the young gentleman, after an awkward silence, "it takes
lots of it to kindle fires."

"I do not think that Kitty ever uses it in the kitchen," said Miss
Harson, "for she is supplied with kindling-wood for that purpose. You
will have to think of something else."

But Malcolm could not think, and his governess finally told him that a
great deal of charcoal is used for making gun-powder, and still more for
fuel in France and the South of Europe, where a brass vessel supplies
the place of a grate or stove. Quantities of it are consumed in
steel-and iron-works, in preserving meat and other food, and in many
similar ways. The children listened with great interest, and Malcolm
felt sure that the next time he was asked about charcoal he would have a
sensible answer.

"Our insect friends the aphides, or plant-lice, are very fond of the
willow," continued Miss Harson, "and in hot, dry weather great masses of
them gather on the leaves and drop a sugary juice, which the
country-people call 'honey-dew,' and in some remote places, where
knowledge is limited, it has been thought to come from the clouds. But