230 THE STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE 



to give us light by day. The moon does the same, 

 and the stars too, to give us light at night. ' ' 



"Listen then to this. I have read, I don't know 

 where, of an eccentric person whose wrong-headed- 

 ness could not reconcile him to simple methods. To 

 attain the simplest result he would use means whose 

 extravagance caused every one to laugh. One day, 

 wishing to roast a lark, what do you think he took it 

 into his head to do? I will give you ten, a hundred 

 guesses. But, bah ! you would never guess it. Just 

 imagine! He constructed a complicated machine, 

 with much wheelwork and many cords, pulleys, and 

 counterpoises ; and when it was started there was a 

 variety of movement, back and forth, up and down. 

 The noise of the springs and the grinding of the 

 wheels biting on each other was enough to make one 

 deaf. The house trembled with the fall of the coun- 

 terpoises/' 



"But what was the machine for?" asked Claire. 

 "Was it to turn the lark in front of the fire?" 



"No, indeed ; that would have been too simple. It 

 was to turn the fire before the lark. The lighted 

 firebrands, the hearth and chimney, dragged heav- 

 ily by the enormous machine, all turned around the 

 lark." 



"Well, that beats all!" Jules ejaculated. 



"You laugh, children, at this odd idea; and yet, 

 like that eccentric man, you make the firebrands, 

 hearth, the whole house turn around a little bird on 

 the spit. The earth is the little bird ; the house is 

 the heavens, with their enormous, innumerable 

 stars." 



