BURNING WATER.
“Well, this is a discovery!” exclaimed Mrs. Partington
smilingly, as she stood with a small picture in her
right hand, her left resting upon the pine table, and her
eyes fixed upon the flame of a glass lamp, that sputtered
for a moment and then shot out a gleam of cheerful
light that irradiated every part of the little kitchen,
revealing the portrait of Paul upon the wall and Ike
asleep by the fire. She spoke to herself — it was a way
she had — and she met with no contradiction from that
quarter. “This is a discovery. This lamp was almost
burnt out, and I 've filled it up with water, and it burns
like the real ile.” The experiment was perfectly
triumphant; the problem of light from water was
demonstrated; and yet, with this vast fact revealed
to her, Mrs. Partington, with a modesty equal to that of
the great philosopher who picked up a pocket-full of
rocks on the shore of the vast ocean of Truth, smiled
with delight at her discovery, nor once thought of putting
out a patent or selling rights — was entirely willing all
might burn water that could.
