exact science, or dead languages. English and
French were enough for her tongue, and history, literature, and
metaphysics enough for her mind.

"I can learn much more from the books in your library and from the dogs
and horses than I can at school, besides being a thousand times happier;
and oh, Dad, if you will let me have a forge and workshop, I will make
no end of things."

This was a new idea to me, and I looked into it with some interest. I
knew that Jane was deft with her fingers, but I did not know that she
had a special wish to cultivate this deftness or to put it to practical
use.

"What can you do with a forge?" said I. "You can't shoe the horses or
sharpen the ploughs. Can you make nails? They are machine-made now, and
you couldn't earn ten cents a week, even at horse-shoe nails."

"I don't want to make nails, Dad; I want to work in copper and brass,
and iron, too, but in girl fashion. Mary Town has a forge in Hartford,
and I spent lots of Saturdays with her. She says that I am cleverer than
she is, but of course she was jollying me, for she makes beautiful
things; but I can learn, and it's great fun."

"What kind of things does this young lady make, dear?"

"Lamp-shades, paper-knives, hinges, bag-tops, buckles, and lots of
things. She could sell them, too, if she had to. It's like learning a
trade, Dad."

"All right, child, you shall have a forge, if you will agree not to burn
yourself up. Do you roll up your sleeves and wear a leather apron?"

"Why, of course, just like a blacksmith; only mine will be of soft brown
leather and pinked at the edges."

So Jane was to have her forge. We selected a site for it at once in the
grove to the east of the house and about 150 yards away, and set the
carpenter at work. The shop proved to be a feature of the place, and
soon became a favorite resort for old and young for five o'clock teas
and small gossiping parties. The house was a shingled cottage, sixteen
by thirty-two, divided into two rooms. The first room, sixteen by
twenty, was the company room, but it contained a work bench as well as
the dainty trappings of a girl's lounging room. In the centre of the
wall that separated the rooms was a huge brick chimney, with a fireplace
in the front room and a forge bed in the rear room, which was the forge
proper.

I suppose I must charge the $460 which this outfit cost to the farm
account and pay yearly interest on it, for it is a fixture; but I
protest that it