"You haven't been learning so long as I have. I want you to pay attention, and I'll explain something to you. You see this spindle don't turn very fast,--not near as fast as the spindle on your mothers' flax-wheels; and yet this large wheel is exactly the same kind of a wheel. What do you suppose is the reason?" "We don't know," said Archie. "If that pulley, Sammy, that is on the spindle (little wheel you call it), was just as large as the flax-wheel, and you should turn that, the other would turn just as fast,--just as many times,--wouldn't it?" "Yes, sir: of course it would if they were both of just the same bigness." "Well, then, if you should make the flax-wheel as big again as the pulley, the pulley would turn twice when the flax-wheel turned once: wouldn't it?" "Yes, sir." "Thus you see the reason that spindle doesn't turn any faster is because the two wheels are so near of a bigness. That pulley is so near the size of the other wheel, that it don't turn but three or four times while the large one is turning once. The large wheel is not more than thirty inches, and the pulley is large seven. Don't you know how fast your mother's spindle on her large wheel whirls?" "Yes, sir. It goes so sometimes you can hardly see it." "Good reason for it. The wheel is forty-eight inches in diameter, and the pulley on the spindle is only about an inch. What do you think of that, my boy?--forty-eight inches to one inch; the spindle turning forty-eight times while the large wheel turns once." "We didn't know. All we knowed was, you said they had a big wheel and a little one on the spindle." Mr. Seth took the pulley from the spindle, cut it down more than one-half, and put it higher up on the spindle. "There, my lads, I have made that pulley smaller; and your spindle will turn so much faster that you can make three pots where you made one afore: besides, now that the large wheel is upright, you can turn it as fast again, and much easier than you could when 'twas lying on the floor." Mr. Seth now put a stone on the bench near the wheel on which the vessels were turned, and put a junk of clay on it: through the top of this clay he ran a stick, passing it back and forth in the hole till it would move easily, and be held firm in place when the clay became dry. He then said to Sammy,-- "There's a gauge for you. Run that stick over the wheel, and draw it back just in proportion to the size of the pot you want to make. If you bring the edge of the pot to the end of that, it will regulate the size."