ppier when they are busy at some useful occupation."

"If that is a good definition of happiness, then we should make
everything we use as crude and primitive as the people used to make them
a thousand years ago. There would be no object in learning, because
learning makes people discontented."

"I heard a story once about some wise man who offered his fortune to the
man who could prove he was contented. The first applicant wanted the
fortune, because he said he was contented. The wise man answered by
saying, that if he was contented he would not want the fortune."

"Quite true; the contented man does not exist, because it is not human
nature to be so. That is one of the qualities which distinguishes man
from the rest of the animal creation."

"But is it true that the invention of labor-saving tools has caused a
lot of misery to working people?"

"Do you know of any tools that are not labor-saving? The mason's trowel
is a labor-saving tool, invented to prevent him from using his hands to
put on the mortar; the bolo or the knife is just as much a labor-saving
tool as the planing machine; the sickle saves labor and so does the
reaper. The difficulty is that some people do not stop to think that the
saving of labor applies just as forcibly to a simple tool as to a
complicated one."

"What shall we try in our furnace to start with?"

"The ore you found yesterday. The first thing to do is to crush it up as
fine as possible. When that is done we can put it in the round furnace."

"You mean in the firebrick furnace?"

"Yes; although we do not need such a high heat. Almost any furnace would
do, as the roasting of the ore does not require a high heat."

"What is the best way to roast it?"

"It will be necessary to put it on one of the iron plates, and great
care must be taken to keep it a uniform heat, but not too intense."

The process of roasting is a very particular one and requires quite a
time to get the best results. When this was done the next step was to
take the roasted ore, and mix it with half its weight of powdered coke.
They had a good quantity of the coke on hand, which was also crushed.

"You remember, George, we had a crucible made with a hole at the bottom.
Get that and also some fire clay dust, and moisten the dust so we can
make a stiff mortar from it. We must make a tubular connection with the
hole in the bottom of the crucible."

When this was done the crucible was put into the furnace, after