Certainly, they are very poisonous; it is, therefore, desirable that they should be put out of the reach of children. A mother ought to be very strict with servants on this head. Moreover, lucifer matches are not only poisonous but dangerous, as a child might set himself on fire with them. A case bearing on the subject has just come under my own observation. A little boy three years old, was left alone for two or three minutes, during which time he obtained possession of a lucifer match, and struck a light by striking the match against the wall. Instantly there was a blaze. Fortunately for him, in his fright, he threw the match on the floor. His mother at this moment entered the room. If his clothes had taken fire, which they might have done, had he not have thrown the match away, or if his mother had not been so near at hand, he would, in all probability, have either been severely burned or have been burned to death. 290. _If a child's clothes take fire, what ought to be done to extinguished them_? Lay him on the floor, then roll him either in the rug, or in the carpet, or in the door-mat, or in any thick article of dress you may either have on, or have at hand--if it be woollen, so much the better; or, throw him down, and roll him over and over on the floor, as, by excluding the atmospheric air, the flame will go out:--hence the importance of a mother cultivating presence of mind. If parents were better prepared for such emergencies, such horrid disfigurations and frightful deaths would be less frequent. You ought to have a proper fire-guard before the nursery grate, and should be strict in not allowing your child to play with fire. If he still persevere in playing with it, when he has been repeatedly cautioned not to do so, he should be punished for his temerity. If anything would justify corporal chastisement, it would surely be such an act of disobedience. There are only two acts of disobedience that I would flog a child for--namely, the playing with fire and the telling of a lie! If after various warnings and wholesome corrections he still persist, it would be well to let him slightly taste the pain of his doing so, either by holding his hand for a moment very near the fire, or by allowing him to slightly touch either the hot bar of the grate or the flame of the candle. Take my word for it the above plan, will effectually cure him--he will never do it again. It would be well for the children of the poor to have pinafores made either of woollen or of stuff materials. The dreadful deaths from burning, which so often occur in winter, too frequently arise from _cotton_ pinafores first taking fire. [Footnote: It has been computed that upwards of 1000 children are annually burned to death by accident in England.] If all dresses after being washed, and just before being dried, were, for a short time, soaked in a solution of tungstate of soda, such clothes, when dried, would, be perfectly fire-proof.