"And they do say the tea-kettle family is much older than the steam
boiler family. But wouldn't I like to travel! I wonder if I couldn't
start off this old stove. Bridget's out, and the master's asleep,
and----"
I was just going to tell the kettle I was wide awake, but I didn't feel
like talking, and so the kettle went on.
"Yes, I have a good mind to try it. Wouldn't it be a brilliant thing, if
I could move the old cooking stove? Wouldn't Bridget stare, when she came
back, if she should see the 'Home Companion' running off down the
railroad track?
"Whew! I believe I'll burst. Bridget's jammed the lid down so tight I
can't breathe!
"But I'm going to try to be a locomotive. Here goes."
Here the kettle stopped singing, and the steam poured out the spout and
pushed up the lid, and the kettle hissed and rattled and rattled and
hissed so that I really was afraid it would run off with the stove. But
all its puffing was in vain. And so, as the fire began to go down, the
kettle commenced to sing again.
"Well, what a fool I was!
"I'm only a tea-kettle; I never shall be anything else; and so there's
the end of it. It's my business to stay here and do my duty in the
kitchen. I suppose an industrious, cheerful tea-kettle is just as useful
in its place as a steam engine; yes, and just as happy, too.
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