"I wanted you to see my oven."

"Have you got an oven?" asked Mary Erskine.

"Yes," said Mary Bell, "It is under a stump. I have got some wood, and
now I want some fire."

"Very well," said Mary Erskine, "get your fire-pan."

Mary Bell's fire-pan, was an old tin dipper with a long handle. It had
been worn out as a dipper, and so they used to let Mary Bell have it
to carry her fire in. There were several small holes in the bottom of
the dipper, so completely was it worn out: but this made it all the
better for a fire-pan, since the air which came up through the holes,
fanned the coals and kept them alive. This dipper was very valuable,
too, for another purpose. Mary Bell was accustomed, sometimes, to go
down to the brook and dip up water with it, in order to see the water
stream down into the brook again, through these holes, in a sort of a
shower.

Mary Bell went, accordingly, for her fire-pan, which she found in its
place in the open stoop or shed. She came into the house, and Mary
Erskine, raking open the ashes in the fire-place, took out two large
coals with the tongs, and dropped them into the dipper. Mary Bell held
the dipper at arm's length before her, and began to walk along.

"Hold it out upon one side," said Mary Erskine, "and then if you fall
down, you will not fall upon your fire."

Mary Bell, obeying this injunction, went out to her oven and put the