"I thought you said 'twas a safety lamp!" said Katie indignantly. "'Tisn't half so good as our un-safety ones;" declared Robbie. "It's never safe to blow directly down upon a full flame in any lamp," said mamma. "The wick should always be turned down first and the flame gently blown." "Accident the third;" said August ruefully. "Mamma, do you feel like trusting me any farther?" His mother smiled. "The usual experience of inventors, my son." Sunday passed quietly. Monday with its school duties was well over. Tuesday morning--"Three weeks to-day!" said August, and half fearfully opened his incubator. "_Peep! Peep! Peep!_" The lad trembled with excitement, and a flush of joy spread over his face. He could hardly believe his ears. "One, two, three," he hurriedly counted, "four, five, six." On he counted, up to twenty eggs chipped or cracked. One chicken was half out of its shell, and one, quite independent, was scrambling over the rest of the eggs. August held his breath and looked at them as long as he dared to keep the incubator open. Then softly closing the lid, he rushed down stairs. "Hurrah! Hurrah!" he shouted at the door of his mother's room. "They're hatching, mamma! They're hatching!" "Are they, really?" asked mamma, pleased enough, and she hurried up the stairs, closely followed by the children, whom August's joyful cry had aroused from their sleep. In great excitement they clustered around the barrel. "Oh! what a cunning, fluffy one!" cried little Katie, as she spied the oldest chick. "But what is the matter with that other one?" asked Tommy. "He has just left the shell and is not dry yet," August explained. "As soon as he is dry he will be downy like the other." "Hear em say '_peep! peep!_'" cried little Robbie, grasping the edge of the barrel with both hands, and stretching his short legs to their utmost extent in order to get his eyes high enough to look over the edge. "What lots are cracked!" said Tommy. "Oh! August, here is one cracked all round." "Yes," said August, "that chick will soon be out." Even as he spoke the shell parted, and a third little bright-eyed chicken struggled out and looked about in amazement. The children could have watched them much longer with great interest, but mamma was afraid the incubator would get too cool, and she advised August to cover it. "How _do_ they do it, mamma?" asked Katie. [Illustration: HOW THE CHICKEN IS PACKED.]