His own heart laughed : and that was quite enough for him . He had no further intercourse with Spirits , but lived upon the Total-Abstinence Principle ever afterwards ; and it was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well , if any man alive possessed the knowledge . May that be truly said of us , and all of us ! THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH A FAIRY TALE OF HOME CHIRP THE FIRST The kettle began it ! Do n't tell me what Mrs. Peerybingle said . I know better . Mrs. Peerybingle may leave it on record to the end of time that she could n't say which of them began it ; but I say the kettle did . I ought to know , I hope ? The kettle began it , full five minutes by the little waxy-faced Dutch clock in the corner , before the Cricket uttered a chirp . As if the clock had n't finished striking , and the convulsive little Hay-maker at the top of it , jerking away right and left with a scythe in front of a Moorish Palace , had n't mowed down half an acre of imaginary grass before the Cricket joined in at all ! Why , I am not naturally positive . Every one knows that I would n't set my own opinion against the opinion of Mrs. Peerybingle , unless I were quite sure , on any account whatever . Nothing should induce me . But , this is a question of fact . And the fact is , that the kettle began it at least five minutes before the Cricket gave any sign of being in existence . Contradict me , and I 'll say ten . Let me narrate exactly how it happened . I should have proceeded to do so , in my very first word , but for this plain consideration -- if I am to tell a story I must begin at the beginning ; and how is it possible to begin at the beginning without beginning at the kettle ? It appeared as if there were a sort of match , or trial of skill , you must understand , between the kettle and the Cricket . And this is what led to it , and how it came about .
Mrs. Peerybingle , going out into the raw twilight , and clicking over the wet stones in a pair of pattens that worked innumerable rough impressions of the first proposition in Euclid all about the yard -- Mrs. Peerybingle filled the kettle XXXXX the water-butt .
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