THE LITTLE NAIL-MAKER. cut off, and the rod is put into the fire to be made hot again. Whilst the rod is getting hot for another, the nailor makes the head of the nail already cut off, by hammering it into a hole in a steel instrument called a bore, the hole being the shape of the head required. But a man makes a nail in much less time than it has taken me to describe the pro- cess to you. One man usually makes about 6,000 nails in a week. Well, the man we were telling you of was poor, and had a large family to provide for, so he had been obliged to take his little boy, almost from his mother’s arms, and set him to work, to help to earn money to. buy their food. He was then too little to reach his father’s block, so a large stone was placed for him to stand on. And that cold damp stone, and the want of proper air and exercise, had stopped the poor child’s growth, and made him sickly, so that years after he needed the stone to raise him, as much as when he was first placed on it. 232