.

"Why, they make a black stain," said Forester, "which they put upon the
wood. This staining soaks in a little way, and blackens the fibres of
the wood itself, beneath the surface. This, of course, will not wear off
as easily as paint."

"I should not think it would wear off at all," said Marco.

"Yes," replied Forester, "for, if a cane is made of any wood stained
black, after a time the wood itself wears away farther than the staining
had penetrated. Then the fresh wood will come to view. So that, if you
want anything black, it is much better to make it of a wood which is
black all the way through.

"Besides," continued Forester, "ebony is a very hard wood, and it will
bear knocks and rough usages much better than other kinds of wood which
are softer. Once I made a carpenter an ebony wedge, to split his laths
with."

"What are laths?" asked Marco.

"Laths are the thin split boards which are nailed upon the sides of a
room before the plastering is put on. Sometimes laths are made very
narrow, and are nailed on at a little distance from each other, so as to
leave a crack between them. Then the plastering, being soft when it is
put on, works into the cracks, and thus clings to the wood when it is
dry and hard. If plastering was put on to smooth boards, or a smooth
wall, it would all fall off again very easily."

"Yes," said Marco; "I have seen the plastering coming up through the
cracks in the garret at your house in Vermont."

"The lath boards," continued Forester, "are sometimes made narrow, and
nailed on at a little distance from each other, and sometimes they are
wide boards, split up, but not taken apart, and then the cracks, which
are made in splitting them, are forced open when the boards are nailed
on. The way they do it, is this. They put the wide lath board down upon
a plank, and make a great many cracks in it with an axe. Then they put
it upon the wall, or ceiling, and nail one edge. Then they take a wedge
and drive into one of the cracks, and force it open far enough to let
the plastering in. Then they put in some more nails, in such a manner as
to keep that crack open. Then they wedge open another crack, and nail
again; and so on, until they have nailed on the whole board, so as to
leave the cracks all open."

"And you made the carpenter an ebony wedge?" said Marco.

"Yes," said Forester. "He had had wedges made of the hardest wood that
he could get, but they would soon become bruised, and batte