ENEMIES AT HOME, CONTINUED. 247 Into great reservoirs, above the level of large towns, over which they hang like suspended lakes, and from thence scatters them, at will, and guides them forth to lend beauty and coolness and health and purity and freshness to his abode, and protect him from the devouring flame." 1 SECT. CCLXVII.-ENEMIES AT HOME, CONTINUED. "STRANGE! 2 Is it not, father?-But what is the second 3 enemy man has brought into his service ?" 4 5 6 7 8 66 I have named him to you, already." "Just now ?" "Yes: a few minutes ago: I even spoke of it in the most terrible development of its power." "Is it then very terrible?" "Yes: so terrible, that—take care! it is springing upon 9 you!" A log of wood had rolled from the hearth. 66 10 Ah! you mean fire," he laughing exclaimed, as he replaced the log. 11 "Yes: fire: to name it, is to describe it. 12 What an 13 enemy! Water dissolves'; but slowly: fire destroys in a moment: its touch wounds, and its wound is torture. Water 14 can kill, but yet we can dwell on its surface; we constrain it to bear us; and, in order to destroy life, it must enter our mouth and stop our breath; but fire!—whatever place it touches, it destroys: whatever member it attacks, it devours. 15 There are a thousand modes of defence against the perils of water'; but what mighty power, short of Almighty, can 16 check the progress of fire? Yet this is the guest whom man has dared to introduce into his home. Fire is mingled with 17 every act of our life: it supplies all our wants: it aided in the construction of this very room. Fire made glass for our windows and mirrors: it prepared the lime and hardened the 18 bricks in our walls: it was used in the manufacture of our locks and bolts and andirons; in dying the wool of our brilliant carpets and curtains; in short, in preparing our daily food. 19 "Would it not be supposed that we spoke of a friend? 20 Yet how many precautions against this friend! A place apart expressly for his use'; a hearth formed of materials 21 which have all been hardened against his power; and yet 248 ENEMIES AT HOME, CONCLUDED. even in the midst of all these precautions, how often this socalled friend bursts forth and casts around him firebrands and death! If his fury is kept in subjection, does he not often exhale a corrosive poison, which, diffusing itself, attacks 22 his conqueror in every one of his senses, (sight, smell, and breath,) soils his garments, and destroys the freshness and beauty of all around? "You have already guessed that this is smoke; and what 23 must be done to snatch this remaining power from our rebellious enemy? how best constrain him to be only useful? It would be a difficult, almost impossible task, if we had not 24 discovered and enlisted in our behalf, a powerful ally, a mysterious combatant, who will come to our aid and complete our conquest." DEFINITIONS, &c.-Define terrible, development, log, hearth, replaced, dissolves, destroys, wound, torture, kill, surface, constrain, attacks, devours, modes, defence, peril, check, introduce, construction, mirrors, carpets, curtains, precautions, &c., &c. SECT. CCLXVIII.-ENEMIES AT HOME, CONCLUded. "AND who is this ally, father?" "Who is it, my son? who? 3 A third enemy!" 1 2 4 "A third enemy!" 5 6 "Yes have I not promised you several? And the appearance of this new adversary on the scene, will now add to your pleasure, by placing before you, in a new light, the skill 7 of man. How shall we get rid of this troublesome smoke which fire produces seemingly on purpose to annoy us? Let 8 us call our third enemy to our aid; and thanks to him, we shall become masters of this dangerous flame: we shall be able to excite, to guide, to check it." 9 10 11 12 "And this new combatant is the air: is it not?" 66 Exactly it is the air.” "But the air is not our enemy': is it?" "Don't you think so? Only open the window when it is very cold; go out into the streets when a violent storm 13 blows down the chimney-tops, and carries off the tiles from our roofs; plant young trees on those heights where the tempest uproots even the full-grown pine; or embark upon the ocean during the stormy gales of the equinox: do you not ENEMIES AT HOME, CONCLUDED. 249 allow that, under such circumstances, it is one of our most 14 unrelenting foes? Well, now let us view it in its conflict with fire. 15 "Man has discovered one most important law of air; namely, that it becomes lighter in proportion to its warmth; and 16 that it rises in proportion to its lightness. This single fact is sufficient, practically applied, to rid us of the annoyance of 17 smoke. What is smoke? 18 A heated air. 19 What 20 is the external atmosphere? A heavier and a colder air. 21 What, in this case, is the resource of man? He introduces 22 the latter into his house, and it enters into conflict with the 23 smoke, and forces it up the chimney. Thus, one enemy rids you of the other." 24 After some moments of silence, my son began again: 'Well, papa, what next?” 25 "I will mention two more; and they are yet more extraordinary, and still more difficult to subdue. Sometimes when the workman in a coal-mine has reached the last round of the long ladder which leads him down to the scene of his 26 labors, he suddenly encounters a poisonous and stifling odor: his throat becomes dry: his brain dizzy: a sort of vertigo makes his steps falter: his lamp no longer burns with a clear brightness, but emits a bluish, sickly flame. Soon a strange 27 crackling sound makes itself heard through every crevice of the rock. He seeks to regain the fresh air, and makes one step towards the opening, but alas! it is too late! a power28 ful explosion bursts around him: there is first a blaze of light, then utter darkness: the vaults are in fragments: the galleries crushed: the miner sinks upon the ground." 29 "And does it kill him, papa ?" 30 "Yes, my child." 31 "And what was the cause of all this? what was this poisonous air ?" "It was the 32 gas which gives us light in our houses; and 33 which illuminates our streets. What can be grander than 34 this thought! Here is a body with which man first becomes acquainted only by means of its dreadful consequences. 35 He sees but one fact: this body gives light! He does not 36 shrink from its terrors, but rather opens his walls to afford it a free passage, and brings it into his dwellings: into his 37 cities! He makes it his friend! 250 " MARCO BOZZARIS. The fifth enemy is electricity; and this enemy we have 38 not sought in the bowels of the earth'; we have brought it down to earth from the very heavens themselves. This electricity when it became inflamed in the stormy plains of air, fell upon the head of man with destructive power; but 39 man with his loaded needle drew it from the clouds, and forcing it to descend, like a thread of water along an iron rod, he has conducted it harmlessly to the ground; nor this only; but grasping it in its rapid course, he confides to these wings of flame the transport of his news, and takes the light40 ning for his messenger! It is his friend!" 1 2 SECT. CCLXIX.-MARCO BOZZARIS. Ar midnight, in his guarded tent, In dreams, through camp and court, he bore In dreams his song of triumph heard: As Eden's garden bird. An hour passed on: the Turk awoke : That bright dream was his last: "To arms! they come! the Greek! the Greek!" "Strike-till the last armed foe expires: sires: PARTRIDGE HEARING GARRICK. They fought like brave men, long and well: 251 DEFINITIONS, &c.-Define at, midnight, in, his, guarded, tent, the, Turk, dreaming, of, hour, when, Greece, her, knee, in suppliance, (this phrase may mean either with pliancy, flexibility, or in or for entreaty, supplication: suppliance is not found in Webster's dictionary,) should, tremble, power. I have called for a definition of every word in the first four lines of this piece, expecting that every remaining word in it will be defined successively in the same manner. SECT. CCLXX.-PARTRIDGE HEARING GARRICK. 1 As soon as the play, which was Hamlet Prince of Denmark, began, Partridge was all attention; nor did he break silence till the entrance of the ghost; upon which he asked Jones what man that was in the strange dress: " something," 2 said he, "like what I have seen in a picture. Sure it is 3 not armor, is it?" Jones answered, "That is the ghost.” 4 To which Partridge replied, with a smile, "Persuade me to 5 that, sir, if you can. Though I can't say I ever actually saw a ghost in my life, yet I am certain I should know one, if I 6 saw him, better than that comes to. No, no, sir; ghosts 7 do not appear in such dresses as that, neither." In this mistake, which caused much laughter in the neighborhood of Partridge, he was suffered to continue, till the scene between the ghost and Hamlet; when Partridge gave that credit to Mr. Garrick which he had denied to Jones, and fell into so violent a trembling, that his knees knocked against each 8 other. Jones asked him what was the matter; and whether 9 he was afraid of the warrior upon the stage. "O la! sir," 10 said he, "I perceive now it is what you told me. I am not afraid of any thing, for I know it is but a play; and if it was really a ghost, it could do one no harm at such a distance, and in so much company"; and yet, if I was frightened, I am 11 not the only person'."-" Why, who," cries Jones, "dost 12 thou take to be such a coward here besides thyself ?”—“ Nay, you may call me a coward if you will, but if that little man there upon the stage is not frightened, I never saw any man 13 frightened in my life. Ay; ay; go along with you! ay; to be |
