"I'm Tea Kettle, Miss," said Tea Kettle, lifting his lid very politely. "I'm gladly at your service, if you please." "And I!" It was Sauce Pan. "And I!" cried Boiler Pan. Mary Frances could scarcely believe her ears. "My," she said, "can you all talk? and will you help me? Isn't that grand!--But how you did s'prise me! Won't we have a lovely time!" "Look at the fire! Look at the fire!" "What a tiny voice!" thought the little girl,--but she quickly took the lids off the stove. Some very bright coals stared up at her. "The fire is fine," she said aloud, and she looked all about to find where the voice came from, but she saw no one. "Look down, please!" said the same tiny voice, this time very distinctly. There stood the funniest little wire man, no higher than the little girl's elbow. [Illustration: "And I!"] [Illustration: "And I!"] "You didn't see me," laughed the little man, "but I know how to make toast." "Of course!" said the little girl, "you're--why, you're the Toaster!" "Yes, ma'am," said the little man, with a bow, "at your service, Miss Mary Frances." "Try me, and see what I can do," went on Toaster Man. "Just put a slice of that bread into my head, and hold me over the fire." Mary Frances leaned over and gravely put a slice of bread in Toaster. He looked so funny standing there that she wanted to smile, but thought it wouldn't be exactly polite to so helpful a friend. But when he said, "Slide up my collar," in a thick, smothery sort of voice, she laughed aloud before she could stop, but turned the sound into a cough so quickly that Toaster Man looked up at her queerly only a moment; and she pulled the ring up until it held the bread tightly in place. "Now, lift me up over the fire!" he demanded. Mary Frances hesitated--she couldn't tell where to take hold of him. [Illustration: "You didn't see me"] [Illustration: "Slide up my collar."] "Never mind my legs," he said, as though he read her thoughts, "I'll see to them," and he folded them up so close that when Mary Frances lifted him up, she could find no sign of them. "Oh, you'll be burnt!" she cried, as she held what Toaster Man had called his head over the bright fire. "Not I," he laughed, "not I. I like it. It's the toast that'll be burnt, if I'm not turned over soon." Mary Frances took the hint, and turned Toaster carefully over. "Not too close to the coals at first, Little Miss," said the little fellow. "Now,--closer! That's it!" "How is it?" he asked, as Mary Frances took him from the fire. "What a beautiful piece of toast!" she cried. "Grand-if-i-cent!" exclaimed Toaster. "Now, you do the next piece without my saying a word--but first spread that with butter, and put it in the oven. Now, you read in your book, and see if that's not the way to make Buttered Toast." [Illustration: She opened her book.] Mary Frances opened her book. "Read it out!" said the little man. "When I speak that way, Mother tells me to say 'Please,'" said she.