the kettle hangs.


Tom Kitten took another big jump off
the bar, and landed on a ledge high up
inside the chimney, knocking down some
soot into the fender.


Tom Kitten coughed and choked with the
smoke; he could hear the sticks beginning
to crackle and burn in the fireplace down
below. He made up his mind to climb right
to the top, and get out on the slates, and
try to catch sparrows.

"I cannot go back. If I slipped I might
fall in the fire and singe my beautiful tail
and my little blue jacket."

The chimney was a very big old-fashioned
one. It was built in the days when
people burnt logs of wood upon the hearth.

The chimney stack stood up above the
roof like a little stone tower, and the daylight
shone down from the top, under the
slanting slates that kept out the rain.