THE ICE IN THE BOTTLE
Hal and Mab were so excited at hearing their father speak about a new
secret, that they could hardly eat their supper. There were so many
questions they wanted to ask. But they managed to clear their plates,
and then, when Mr. Blake had on his slippers, and had put plenty of
coal on the furnace, Hal climbed up on one knee, and Mab on the other.
"Now, Daddy, please tell us the secret," begged the little girl.
"And tell us what makes water freeze, and how it gets cold, and what
makes us warm when we run," added Hal. "Sammie Jones is going to ask
his father what makes it lightning in a thunder storm."
"My goodness me sakes alive, and some peanut candy!" cried Daddy Blake
with a laugh. "What a lot of questions!"
"But the secret first, please," begged Mab.
"Well, let me see if it is going to be cold enough for me to tell
you," said Mr. Blake. "It must be freezing cold, or the secret will be
of no use."
Daddy Blake went to the door, outside of which hung an instrument
called a thermometer. I guess you have seen them often enough. A
thermometer is a glass tube, fastened to a piece of wood or perhaps
tin, and inside is a thin, shiny column. This column is mercury, or
quicksilver. Some thermometers have, instead of mercury, alcohol,
colored red, so it can easily be seen.
You see mercury, or alcohol, will not freeze, except in much colder
weather than you ever have where you live, unless you live at the
North Pole. Up there it gets so cold that sometimes alcohol will
became as thick as molasses, and then it is not of any use in a
thermometer. But mercury will not freeze, even at the North Pole.
The word thermometer means something by which heat can be measured.
"Thermos" is a Greek word, meaning heat, and "Meter" means to measure.
Though of course a thermometer will measure cold as well as heat.
"Is it cold enough?" asked Hal, as Daddy Blake came back from looking
at the thermometer.
"Not quite," his father answered. "But the mercury is going down the
tube."
"What makes it go down?" asked Mab.
"Well, let me think a minute, and I'll see if I can make it simple
enough so you can understand," said Daddy Blake.
Those of you who have read the other "Daddy" books know how many
things Mr. Blake told his children, and what good times Hal and Mab
had with him. He was always taking them somewhere, and often one or
the other of the children would call out:
"Oh, Daddy is going to take us walking!"
Sometimes perhaps it might not be for a walk. It might be for a trip
in the steam cars. But, wherever it was, Hal and Mab were always ready
to go with their father.
In the first book I told you how Daddy Blake took Hal and Mab camping.
They went to live in the woods in a white tent and had lots of fun.
Once they were frightened in the night, but it was only because
Roly-Poly, their poodle dog--
But there, I'm not going to spoil it by telling you, when you might
want to read the book for yourself.
In the second volume, called "Daddy Takes Us Fishing," I made up a
story about how Hal and Mab went to the seashore cottage, and learned
to catch different kinds of fish; even the queer, pinching crabs, that
turned red when you boiled them.
Once Mab fell overboard, and the children nearly drifted out to sea,
but they got safely back. After that they went to the big animal show.
And in the book "Daddy Takes Us to the Circus," I told you how Hal and
Mab were accidentally taken away in one of the circus wagons, and how
they traveled all night. And the next day they rode on the elephant's
back, and also on a camel's and they went in the big parade. Oh! it
was just wonderful the adventures they had!
Hal and Mab lived with their papa and mamma, and Aunt Lolly, in a fine
house in the city. But they often went to the country and to other
places where they had good times. In the family was also Uncle
Pennywait. That wasn't his real name, but the children called him that
because he so often said:
"Wait a minute and I'll give you a penny."
Hal and Mab used to buy lollypops with the pennies their uncle gave
them. And then--Oh, yes, I mustn't forget Roly-Poly, the funny, fat,
poodle dog who was always hiding things in holes in the ground,
thinking they were bones, I guess. Sometimes he would even hide Aunt
Lolly's spectacles and she would have the hardest work finding them.
Oh, such hard work!
"Well, Daddy," asked Mab, after Mr. Blake had sat silent for some
time, "have you thought of a way to tell us what makes the shiny stuff
in the--in the--in the--Oh! I can't say that big word!" she finished
with a sigh.
"The mercury in the thermometer!" laughed Daddy Blake. "You want to
know what makes it go down? Well, it's the cold. You see cold makes
anything get smaller and shrink, and heat makes things swell up, and
get larger. That's why the steam from hot water swells up and makes
the engine go, and pull the cars.
"And in hot weather the mercury swells, puffs itself out and creeps
up inside the little glass tube. In winter the mercury gets cold, and
shrinks down, just as it is doing to-night."
"But will it get cold enough so you can tell us the secret?" Hal
wanted to know, most anxiously.
"Perhaps," said his father. "We will try it and see. I will fill a
bottle with water, and we will set it out on the back porch to freeze.
If it freezes by morning I will know that I can tell you the secret."
"Oh, do we have to wait until morning?" cried Mab, in disappointed
tones.
"That won't be long," laughed her father. "You can hardly keep your
eyes open now. I guess the sand man has been here. Go to bed, and it
will soon be morning. Then, if there is ice in the bottle, I'll tell
you the secret."
Daddy Blake took a bottle, and filled it with water. He put the cork
in tightly, and then twisted some wires over the top.
"What are the wires for?" asked Hal.
"So the ice, that I think will freeze inside the bottle, will not push
out the cork," explained Daddy Blake. "Now off to bed with you!"
You may be sure Hal and Mab did not want to go to bed, even if they
were sleepy. They wanted to stay up and watch the water in the bottle
freeze. But Mamma Blake soon had them tucked snugly under the covers.
Then Daddy Blake fixed the furnace fire for the night, as it was
getting colder and colder. Next he opened a package he had brought
home with him. Something inside jingled and clanked, and shone in the
lamplight as brightly as silver.
"What have you there?" asked Aunt Lolly.
"That's the children's secret," answered Daddy Blake, as he wrapped
the package up again.
Hal was up first in the morning, but Mab soon followed him.
"Daddy, where is the bottle?" called Hal.
"May we get it?" asked Mab.
"Oh, it is much too cold for you to go out until you are warmly
dressed!" cried Daddy. "I'll bring the bottle in so you can see it."
He went out on the porch in his bath robe and slippers, and quickly
brought in the bottle of water he had set out the night before.
"Oh, look!" cried Hal.
For the bottle was broken into several pieces, and standing up on the
board on which it had been set, was a solid, clear piece of ice, just
the shape of the glass bottle itself.
"Oh, somebody broke our bottle!" cried Mab. "Now we can't hear the
secret!"