FURNITURE, AND ITS USES. 197 



a little girl, five years old, who, in playing with 

 a brass nail, suffered it to get into her windpipe. 

 It produced a little coughing, and then all was 

 over ; and the parents and friends thought all 

 was well. But more than a year afterward, 

 on taking a cold, a bad cough, with hectic 

 fever, night sweats, and bleeding at the lungs, 

 came on, and she died of a quick consumption. 

 On opening her body, the brass nail was found 

 in her lungs. 



I hope every young person who reads this 

 account will avoid holding such things in his 

 mouth, as well as all talking and laughing 

 while eating ; for it is at least dangerous, and 

 may prove fatal to him. 



When the food is fairly beyond the tongue 

 and the little trap door, it goes into the top of 

 the food pipe, as into a sort of funnel top. 

 Below, this pipe is smaller; but if we eat 

 and swallow slowly, not so small as to hinder 

 the food from passing. But if we do not 

 half chew our food, or if we swallow it too 

 rapidly, it sometimes sticks in this passage, and 

 causes great trouble. I have known persons 

 come very near dying, by having a large piece, 

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