 | Life and sayings of Mrs. Partington and others
of the family |  |
MRS. P. ON MOUNT VESUVIUS.
SO there 's been another rupture of
Mount Vociferous!” said Mrs.
Partington, as she put down the
paper and put up her specs. “The
paper tells all about the burning
lather running down the mountain, but it don't tell us
how it got afire. I wonder if it was set fire to. There
are many people full wicked enough to do it, or, perhaps,
it was caused by children playing with frictious matches.
I wish they had sent for our firemen; they would
soon have put a stop to the raging aliment; and I dare
say Mr. Barnacle, and all of 'em, would have gone, for
they are what I call real civil engineers.”
There was a whole broadside of commendation of the
fire department in the impressive gesture accompanying
her words. “Time and space” for a moment became annihilated,
and imagination figured the city engines pouring
their subduing streams upon the flames of Vesuvius,
and “Hold on, seving!” “Break her down, twelve!”
rising above the vain roarings of the smothering crater.
| Life and sayings of Mrs. Partington and others
of the family | |