"This is pretty fine, eh?" said the Gas Stove, with a smile, which, had any one looked, must have been visible for miles, so light and cheerful was it. "Lovely!" cried Jimmieboy, almost gasping in ecstasy. "I'm just as warm and comfortable as can be. I didn't know you had a team like this." "Ah, my boy," returned the Stove, "there's lots you don't know. For instance: "You don't know why a fire will burn On hot days merrily; And when the cold days come, will turn As cold as I-C-E! "You don't know why the puppies bark, Or why snap-turtles snap; Or why a horse runs round the park, Because you say, 'git-ap.' "You don't know why a peach has fuzz Upon its pinky cheek; Or what the poor Dumb-Crambo does When he desires to speak. "Do you?" "No, I don't," said Jimmieboy. "But I should like to very much." "So should I," said the Stove. "We're very much alike in a great many respects, and particularly in those in which we resemble each other." The truth of this was so evident that Jimmieboy could think of nothing to say in answer to it, so he merely observed: "I'm awful hungry." This was a favorite remark of his, particularly between meals. "So am I," said the Stove. "Let's see what we've got here. Just hold the reins while I dive down into the lunch basket." Jimmieboy took the reins with some fear at first, but when he saw that they were high up in the air where there was really nothing but a star or two to run into, and realized that even they were millions of miles away, he soon got used to it, and was sorry when the Stove resumed control. "There, Jimmieboy," said the Stove, as he drew his hand out of the basket. "There's a nice hot ginger-snap for you. I think I'll take a snack of this fuel gas myself." "You don't eat gas, do you?" asked the small passenger. "I guess I do," ejaculated the Stove, with a smack of his lips. "As our Gas Poet Laureate said: "Oh, kerosene Is good, I ween, And so is apple sass; But bring for me, Oh, chickadee, A bowl of fuel gas! "Some persons like The red beefstike, The cow just dotes on grass-- But to my mind No one can find More toothsome things than gas. "And so I say, Bring me no hay; No roasted deep-sea bass. Bring me no pease, Or fricassees, If, haply, you have gas." "It's easy to eat, too," added the Stove. "In fact, I heard your papa say we consumed too much of it one day when he'd got his bill from the gas butcher." "Do you chew it?" asked Jimmieboy. "No, indeed. We take it in through a pipe. It isn't like soup or meat, though I sometimes think if people could take soup out of a pipe instead of from a spoon they'd look handsomer while they were eating. But the great thing about it is it's always ready, and if it comes cold, all you have to do is to touch a match to it, and it gets as hot as you could want." "I should think you'd get tired of it," said Jimmieboy.