human
Look! there it is now! How do you think it looks? You pour the oil into this glass, and that stump of ribbon inside is the wick--hold that pare a little further off, will you!
gpt
Shall we light it?
human
Are you mad? How can it be lighted when there's no oil in it?
gpt
Well, but can't you pour some in, then?
human
Pour in oil? A likely tale! Yes, that's just the way when people don't understand these things; but the storekeeper warned me again and again never to pour the oil in by firelight, as it might catch fire and burn the whole house down.
gpt
Then when will you pour the oil into it!
human
In the daytime--daytime, d'ye hear? Can't you wait till day? It isn't such a great marvel as all that.
gpt
Have you SEEN it burn, then?
human
Of course I have. What a question! I've seen it burn many a time, both at the parsonage and when we tried this one here at the storekeeper's.
gpt
And it burned, did it?
human
Burned? Of course it did, and when we put up the shutters of the shop, you could have seen a needle on the floor. Look here, now! Here's a sort of capsule, and when the fire is burning in this fixed glass here, the light cannot creep up to the top, where it isn't wanted either, but spreads out downward, so that you could find a needle an the floor.