24. I suppose that you have probably learned most of these things which I have now told you in your spelling-book; but I have repeated them in this book, because I have so often found that little boys and girls are very apt to forget what they have learned. 25. If you recollect them all, it will do you no harm to read them again, but it will impress them more deeply on your memory. But if you have forgotten them, this little book will recall them to your mind, so that you will never forget them. 26. I recollect, when I was a little boy, that the letter _y_ used to trouble me very much when it began a word, and was not followed by one of the letters which are called vowels, namely, _a_, _e_, _i_, _o_, _u_. I knew how to pronounce _ya_, _ye_, _yi_, _yo_, _yu_; but one day, when I was studying a lesson in geography, I saw a word which was spelt _Y, p, r, e, s_, which puzzled me very much. 27. I knew that the letters _p, r, e, s_, would spell _pres_, but I did not know what to call the _y_. After studying it a long time, I found that the letter _y_, in that word and some others, was to be pronounced like the long _e_, and that the word was pronounced _Epres_, though it was spelled _Y, p, r, e, s_. 28. Perhaps you will be able, when you grow up, to write a book; and to tell little boys and girls who go to school, when you have grown up, how to read hard words, better than I have told you. 29. If you wish to do so, you must try to recollect what puzzles you most now, and then you will be able to inform them how to get over their difficulties and troubles at school; and when they grow up, I have no doubt that they will feel very grateful to you for the assistance you have given them. LESSON XVI. _Fire,[A]--a Conversation between a Mother and her little Daughter._ [Illustration] _Daughter._ Mother dear, you told me, the other day, that nobody knows what _light_ is, except the Great Creator. Now, can you tell me _what fire is_? _Mother._ I fear, my child, that you have asked another question which I cannot directly answer. What fire is, is known only by its effects. _Daughter._ And what are its effects, mother? _Mother._ Some of its effects are as well known to you, my dear, as they are to me; and I shall, in the first place, call to your recollection what you yourself know about _fire_, before I attempt to give you any further information in relation to it. _Daughter._ Why, mother, I am sure I do not know what fire is. _Mother._ No, Caroline, I know that you do not know what fire is; neither do I, nor does any one, except the Great Creator himself. This is one of his secrets, which, in his wisdom, he reserves for himself. But you certainly know some of the effects of fire. For instance, you know that when you have been out into the cold, you wish, on your return, to go to the fire. Now, can you tell me what you go to the fire for? _Daughter._ Why, certainly, mother; I go to the fire to warm myself.