ties in all the Union where money is actually
made; that is, where metals are coined. The principal mint of the
United States is in Philadelphia. Here are made all the copper and
nickel coins--one, two and five cent pieces--and a large part of the
gold and silver coins used in the country. There are also branch mints
at San Francisco and Carson City. And at these places gold and silver
coins of every value are coined in great quantities.

Those of you who have been in Philadelphia will remember, on the north
side of Chestnut street, near Broad, a Grecian building of white
marble, somewhat gray from age, with a tall chimney rising from the
center, and the United States flag flying from the roof. This is the
mint. Let us climb the long flight of steps and enter the building. On
the door is a placard: "Visitors admitted from 9 to 12." The door opens
into a circular entrance hall, with seats around the wall. In a moment
a polite usher, who has grown gray in the service of the institution,
comes to show us all that visitors are allowed to see. He leads us
through a hall into an open court-yard in the middle of the building.
On the left is the weighing-room; and if you owned a gold mine, like
the boy I read of in a late number of ST. NICHOLAS, it is to this room
you would bring your gold to be weighed, so that you might know how
much money the mint must pay you for it. All the gold and silver
received in the mint is weighed in this room. Sometimes the gold is
brought in the form of fine dust; sometimes in the shape of grains from
the size of a pin's head to that of a pea; sometimes in plates and
bars, and sometimes it is old jewelry and table service. Visitors are
not allowed to enter the weighing-room; but, by looking through the
window you can see the scales, large and small, which are balanced with
wonderful delicacy, and the vault on the other side, where the treasure
is kept.

[Illustration: THE MINT AT PHILADELPHIA.]

"When the gold has been weighed," says our guide, "it is locked up in
iron boxes, and carried to the melting-room, where it is melted and
poured into molds."

A small piece is then cut off, and its fineness ascertained by a long
and delicate process called assaying. This decides the value of the
lot. The depositor is then paid, and the metal is handed over to the
melter and refiner, to be entirely freed from its impurities and made
fit for coinage.

And a hard time it has of it, to be sure. Nothing b