_Daughter._ I have been thinking, mother, about Alice and the fire. You told me that the fire did not _make_ the heat, any more than I _make_ the little mouse or the bird when I open the cage door and let them out. I see now how it is. Alice brings the wood and the coal into the kitchen fireplace, and the match lets the heat out of the shavings, and the shavings let it out of the wood and the coal, until we get heat enough to make us warm. _Mother._ Yes, my dear; and there is no more heat in the room after the fire is made than there was before,--only, before the fire was made, the heat was hid, and we could not perceive it; but when the fire is made, it makes the heat come out, and makes it free, just as I make the little bird free, by opening his cage door. LESSON XIX. _The Lark and her Young Ones._--Altered from AESOP. 1. A lark having built her nest in a corn-field, the corn grew ripe before the young ones were able to fly. Fearing that the reapers would come to cut down the corn before she had provided a safe place for her little ones, she directed them every day, when she went out to obtain their food, to listen to what the farmers should say about reaping the corn. 2. The little birds promised their mother that they would listen very attentively, and inform her of every word they should hear. 3. She then went abroad; and on her return, the little birds said to their mother, Mother, you must take us away from here; for while you were gone we heard the farmer tell his sons to go and ask some of his neighbors to come to-morrow morning early, and help them cut down the corn. 4. Is that what he said? asked their mother. Yes, mother, said the little birds; and we are very much afraid that you cannot find a safe place for us before the farmer and his neighbors begin to cut down the corn. 5. Do not be afraid, my children, said the lark; if the former depends on his neighbors to do his work for him, we shall be safe where we are. So lie down in the nest, and give yourselves no uneasiness. 6. The next day, when the mother went out for food, she directed the little ones again to listen, and to tell her all that they should hear. 7. In the evening, when she returned, the little ones told her that the farmer's neighbors did not come to assist him on that day; and that the farmer had told his sons to go and request his friends and relations to come and assist him to cut down the corn, early in the next day morning. 8. I think, my children, said the lark, we shall still be safe here; and we will, therefore, feel no anxiety or concern to-night. 9. On the third day, the mother again charged the young larks to give her a faithful report of what was done and said, while she was absent.