uch worse than a
motorcycle," pleaded Peter, teasingly.

Nat's mother shook her head.

"I am not one bit afraid that you would."

"Oh, you never can tell," chuckled Peter. "Besides, can't you see that I
shall have twice as much fun with my own motorcycle if Nat has one too?
It is no earthly fun to go riding by myself."

This and many another such argument caused Mrs. Jackson to waver, and
having once wavered her case was lost. Peter pursued his advantage and
after a whole afternoon of reasoning succeeded in winning Nat's mother
to his point of view. The motorcycle therefore was accepted in the
spirit in which it was proffered and became Nat's most treasured
possession.

What sport the two lads had going and coming from work! What wonderful
Saturday afternoon rides they took through the surrounding country!

Their work at the sole leather tanneries was interesting, too. Here
many new phases of leather making confronted them. First there was
the tremendous weight of the great skins, which were so unwieldy that
they could not easily be handled and, like cowhides, had to be cut
into halves, or "sidees." In addition to this they were usually
split--sometimes before tanning, sometimes after. The grain, or the side
next the hair, was the more valuable leather. After being split once the
splits could be split again, if desired, just as cowhides were. Some of
the hides were tanned in oak bark, some in hemlock, and some in a
mixture of both called union tannage.

Oak sole leather, the foreman said, was often considered preferable for
soling shoes because its close fibre rendered it waterproof, and it
seldom cracked. Much of the fine English leather imported into this
country was, Peter learned, oak tanned. Since oaks grew so plentifully
in Great Britain the bark was much less expensive there than here.

Hemlock leather--so deep red in color--was, on the other hand, used
largely for heavy, stiff soles to common shoes for men and boys, since
it made up in wear what it lacked in flexibility.

Union leather, being a combination of both oak and hemlock tannage,
possessed the virtues as well as the faults of each; it had not the deep
red of hemlock, nor the fine fibre of oak tanned leather. Still it was a
flexible material and was used, the foreman told Peter, for soling
women's shoes.

Sole leather seemed to the boys a very stiff and solid stuff after the
calf and sheep skins which they had previously handled.

Perhaps t