Cricket on the Hearth

Classic from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: -, - (-), course: -, - entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The kettle began it! Don t tell me what Mrs. Peerybingle said. I§know better. Mrs. Peerybingle may leave it on record to the end of§time that she couldn 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 hadn t finished striking, and the convulsive little§Haymaker at the top of it, jerking away right and left with a scythe§in front of a Moorish Palace, hadn 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 wouldn 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 act. 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. [...]