went up, but you were never sure where
they came down.

And then came a fresh tumult! All the fire-engines in town rushed toward
them, clanging with bells, men and boys yelling! They were out for a
practice and for a Fourth-of-July show.

Mrs. Peterkin thought the house was on fire, and so did some of the
guests.

There was great rushing hither and thither. Some thought they would
better go home; some thought they would better stay. Mrs. Peterkin
hastened into the house to save herself, or see what she could save.
Elizabeth Eliza followed her, first proceeding to collect all the pokers
and tongs she could find, because they could be thrown out of the window
without breaking. She had read of people who had flung looking-glasses
out of the window by mistake, in the excitement of the house being on
fire, and had carried the pokers and tongs carefully into the garden.
There was nothing like being prepared. She had always determined to do
the reverse. So with calmness she told Solomon John to take down the
looking-glasses. But she met with a difficulty,--there were no pokers and
tongs, as they did not use them. They had no open fires; Mrs. Peterkin
had been afraid of them. So Elizabeth Eliza took all the pots and
kettles up to the upper windows, ready to be thrown out.

But where was Mrs. Peterkin? Solomon John found she had fled to the
attic in terror. He persuaded her to come down, assuring her it was the
most unsafe place; but she insisted upon stopping to collect some bags
of old pieces, that nobody would think of saving from the general wreck,
she said, unless she did. Alas! this was the result of fireworks on
Fourth of July! As they came downstairs they heard the voices of all the
company declaring there was no fire; the danger was past. It was long
before Mrs. Peterkin could believe it. They told her the fire company
was only out for show, and to celebrate the Fourth of July. She thought
it already too much celebrated.

Elizabeth Eliza's kettles and pans had come down through the windows
with a crash, that had only added to the festivities, the little boys
thought.

Mr. Peterkin had been roaming about all this time in search of a copy of
the Declaration of Independence. The public library was shut, and he
had to go from house to house; but now, as the sunset bells and cannon
began, he returned with a copy, and read it, to the pealing of the bells
and sounding of the cannon.

Torpedoes and crackers were fired