you though,
dear, for fear you should burn yourself. Hot water is very hot, and a
little spilt on your hand would pain you very much, but hot fat would
pain you much more, and when it is used, a little carelessness might end
in a serious accident. Therefore I think small cooks like you ought not
to practise frying unless an older person is present to see that
everything is safe."

Cook passed through the kitchen as this was said, and the remark
evidently met with her approval.

(_To be continued._)

WHAT THE MAGIC WORDS MEANT.

A FAIRY STORY.

"It wasn't here last night? and how did it get here? and who nailed it
up? and what does it mean?" said Lilla.

[Illustration: "THERE WERE SEVERAL WORDS UPON THE BOARD."]

"I didn't nail it up," answered a Magpie, who hopped about from morning
till night in Lilla's garden, and never left off chattering.

"Of course not," returned Lilla; "I did not suppose that you did. But I
should like to understand the meaning of it."

And she gazed up at a great white board that had been fastened to the
garden wall. There were several words upon the board, and Lilla softly
repeated them.

"Air, all, and, and, earth, go, if, know, me, of, sea, so, through,
will, you, you."

"What nonsense! No sense in it at all," said Lilla; "yet they are
arranged alphabetically, air, all, two _and's_, and two _you's_ to
finish with."

"Oh, don't begin to calculate the words, or do it quicker," said the
Magpie impatiently. "Four fours sixteen. There are just sixteen of them:
that is multiplication."

"But not four of each sort," replied Lilla; "only one of most of them. I
wish I knew the exact meaning of it all. The only bit of sense I can
make out is 'Through will you,' but then there are two _you's_."

"That is one _you_ for you, and one _you_ for me," answered the Magpie.
"What you have got to do is to put all the words into a box, and shake
them well up, and we'll go through together."

"Oh!--where?--why--?" exclaimed Lilla, as her foot struck against a
silver box with the lid open; and on the ground lay a heap of cards with
the words she had read printed upon them. She looked up at the board.
There were no longer any words there, so of course they had fallen down.

"Pick them up, and put them in,
And you will then the game begin,"

said the Magpie, who thought he was wonderfully clever as he said this
to Lilla.

"Is it like making words from letters?" asked Lilla.

"No