an who was making a sugar-bowl, and he told
us how he did it. All the men have on the table in front of them a lump
of clay, a wheel, some moulds, a sharp knife, a bucket of water with a
sponge in it, and something like the slab of a round, marble-topped
table, only it's made of plaster Paris, to work on.

[Illustration: MOULD FOR A CUP.]

And do you know what the potter's-wheel is? It's as old as the hills and
it's in the Bible, but I guess everybody don't know what it is. It looks
as if it was made of hard, smooth, baked white clay, and is something
like a grindstone, only not half as thick. The grindstone stands up, but
this lays flat, with its round side turned up, like the head of a barrel.
And it's set on a pivot, like the needle of the compass in our
geographies.

The moulds are like Miss Fanny's wax-fruit moulds. They're made of
plaster Paris, and they're round outside, and they have the shape of what
the man wants to make on the inside, and they're in two pieces. Little
things like cups are made in one mould; but big things like pitchers are
made in two or three pieces, in two or three moulds, and then put
together. Handles and spouts and such things are made separately in
little moulds and put on afterwards.

[Illustration: HANDLE MOULD.]

Here's the way. First the man cuts off a piece of the biscuit, and kneads
it on the plaster Paris slab. Then he takes one piece of the mould, fixes
the clay in nicely, shaves off what he don't want, then puts on the other
piece of the mould, and sets it on the wheel. He gives it a shove and
sets it spinning. It stops itself after a while, then he opens the mould,
and there is the dish. The clay keeps the same thickness all through, and
fills both pieces of the mould.

[Illustration: MAKING A SUGAR-BOWL.]

Then the man takes it out and sponges it. If it isn't just the right
shape all he has to do is wet it, and it will come right. Then he puts on
the handle or puts the pieces together, fixing them just so with his
fingers and knife. It isn't very hard, but he has to be careful. The soft
dishes look real cute. Then they're ready to be burnt the first time.

We walked all around and saw here one man making cups, another, tureens,
another, bird-baths, and every imaginable thing that is ever made in
porcelain. Then we went down-stairs, through the dark rooms, into where
the tall chimneys are. Then I found out they called them _kilns_. They
have at the bottom a prodigious