I. The Fallen Chimney

All day long the rain came pouring down. By night the wind rose with a shriek and a roar, banging unfastened shutters and rattling windows in their casings.

“Oh, dear, what an awful night!” exclaimed Ruth. “How glad I am that Fluffy is safe indoors!” and she stroked the little cat lying on a cushion on the sewing machine.

“And how glad I am that Harry Teelow found that lost puppy to-day,” said Wallace.

“Pretty bad, isn’t it?” Mr. Duwell said, looking up from his paper. “I don’t suppose the bricklayer came to mend the chimney to-day. He couldn’t have worked in such a storm.”

“No, he did not come,” replied Mrs. Duwell with a troubled look. “Do you suppose there is any danger of its tumbling down?”

“Well, I can’t say,” replied Mr. Duwell, shaking his head doubtfully. “I wish I had stopped to see Mr. Bricklayer a week ago when I first discovered how loose the bricks were, instead of waiting until—”

But he did not finish the sentence, for bang! even above the terrific noise of the storm[169] came the sound of falling bricks and broken glass.

The family rushed into the little kitchen, which was built on the end of the house.

What a sight met their eyes!

Water was pouring through a hole in the ceiling where the roof had given way. Rain splashed in great gusty dashes through the window where the bricks had broken through.

Already there was a little lake on the floor.

Ruth was the first to speak. “If it keeps on,” she said, half laughing and half crying, “it will be quite deep enough for Alice and the mouse and the Dodo to swim in!” She was thinking of Alice in Wonderland, you know.

That made everybody laugh, and all began to work. They placed tubs and pails where they would catch the water, and stuffed old cloths into the broken window panes.

It was fully an hour before the family were settled down again in the living room.

“Well, children, you can now understand the saying, ‘Never put off till to-morrow what should be done to-day,’” remarked Mr. Duwell.

“It is a lesson none of us will soon forget,” added Mrs. Duwell.

[170]
whole in roof; messon floor; family in shock

[171]
brick layer next to box of photographs
This picture shows a clay pit, a kiln, brickmakers, brick roadway, culvert, chimney, bridge, men laying bricks.

[172]

“Could you and I have mended the broken chimney, father?” asked Wallace.

“Not very well, my boy,” replied Mr. Duwell. “‘Every man to his trade,’ you know. By the way, I hope Mr. Bricklayer will be here before you children start to school in the morning. Run to bed now so that you can be up early to see him begin his work.”
II. The Bricklayer

The next day dawned bright and sunny, with only a merry little breeze to remind one of yesterday’s storm.

The bricklayer did not come before the children started to school in the morning, but just after lunch. They had only time to watch him and his helper climb to the roof.

“I am going to get home from school early,” said Wallace; “maybe they will not be through by that time.”

“I am, too,” Ruth chimed in. “I wonder what bricks are,” she added.

“Bricks? Why, don’t you know?” asked Wallace. &ld............