able decoration for the fair brow of a locomotive, or,
perhaps, a chignon--supposing that any locomotive could have been
prevailed on to adopt such a wild monstrosity!

This same species of chisel, applied in different ways, reduced masses
of iron in size, planed down flat surfaces, enlarged holes, made
cylinders "true" and smooth inside, besides doing a variety of other
things.

After seeing the large tyre turned, Mrs Marrot could not be induced to
pay much regard to the various carriage and truck wheels which were
being treated in a similar manner in that department, but she was
induced to open her ears, and her eyes too, when the overseer informed
her that the "works" turned out complete no fewer than one hundred and
thirty pairs of locomotive, carriage, and waggon wheels a week.

"How many did you say?" she asked.

"A hundred and thirty pair of wheels in the week," repeated the
overseer.

"Every week?" asked Mrs Marrot.

"Yes; every week. Sometimes more, sometimes less; but altogether,
pretty well on for 6000 pairs of wheels every year."

"W'y, what _do_ you make of 'em all?"

"Oh, we make good use of 'em," replied the overseer, laughing. "We wear
them out so fast that it keeps us working at that rate to meet our
necessities. But that," he continued, "is only a small part of what we
do. We turn out of the works 156 first-class carriages besides many
seconds and thirds, and about 1560 trucks every year; besides three
engines, new and complete, every fortnight."

"Three noo engines every fortnight!" echoed Mrs Marrot; "how many's
that in the year, Bob?"

"Seventy-eight," replied Bob, promptly. Bob was a swift mental
calculator, and rather proud of it.

"Where ever do they all go to?" murmured Mrs Marrot.

"Why," replied Will Garvie, "they go to all the stations on the line, of
course; some of 'em go to smash at once in cases of accidents, and all
of 'em goes to destruction, more or less, in about fifteen or twenty
years. We reckon that to be the life of a locomotive. See, there's a
drivin' axle, such as you saw forged by the big hammer, being turned
now, and cut to shape and size by the same sort of machine that you saw
cuttin' the tyres."

They passed on, after looking at the axle for a few minutes, until they
came to a part of the building where rails were being forged. This
also, although not done by hammer, was a striking process. The place
was so hot owing to the quantity of uncooled met