The other boys, when they had succeeded in making and burning the bowls, satisfied with accomplishing their present purpose, seemed to have exhausted their enthusiasm in that direction. It was far otherwise with Sammy. At night, morning, and even sometimes at noon, he would steal away by himself to the clay-pit. He also held a good many private conferences with Mr. Seth, going to the mill for that purpose. We will take the liberty to repeat one of them. "Mr. Seth, you know my mother's got an earthen milk-pan, and Mrs. Holdness has got two: where did they come from?" "Baltimore." "Who made 'em?" "A potter by the name of Bickford. He makes pans, jugs, bowls, and teapots, out of clay." "My mother's pan don't leak a drop, not when she puts hot water in it; but we boys made some things out of clay, and baked 'em just as we do our marbles, and the water and soup we put in 'em soaked through." "It didn't soak through faster than you could eat it, did it?" "No, sir; but when we let it set, after a good while, it did. What's the reason milk nor nothing else won't go through mother's pan?" "'Cause it's glazed, and probably burned harder than yours. Didn't you see that the inside was of a different color from the outside, and there was something smooth and shiny all over it? That's the glazing, that makes it as tight as though it was made of glass. That's a secret they keep to themselves; but I believe they burn lead, and mix other things with it, put it on, and then bake it in. But the potter's ware that is not glazed will hold water well enough: the water won't drop, and it takes a long time to soak out; all the trouble is, whatever you put into it soaks in, and you can't keep it so clean as though it was glazed." "Then what made ours leak so fast?" "Were there cracks in it?" "Yes, sir; lots of 'em." "Did you put sand in your clay, just as we do when we make mortar?" "Yes, sir." "What else did you do to it?" "Worked it with the hoe, just as we do mortar." "Was that all?" "Yes, sir." "Well, the potters don't put any sand in their clay as a general thing, and never but a very little: the sand made it leak. You didn't make earthen: you made brick. And they take great pains to work their clay. I think it is very likely there were sticks and grass-roots in yours, and it was raw, and not worked enough; and that made it crack and blow. If you had worked it as much as your mother does her dough, not put in any sand, and baked it harder, it would have done better." "Uncle Seth, I love to make things in clay, and I'm going to try to make a bean-pot for my mother. You won't tell anybody, Uncle Seth. Will you?" "No, indeed, and I'm real glad you are going to try. It's a great deal better to spend your time in trying to make something useful than to be fooling or doing mischief." "You know everybody likes Harry 'cause he's brave, kills Indians and bears, and can foller a trail. Ain't I brave?" "Yes, you're brave."