Forest Glen; or, The Mohawk's FriendshipKellogg, Elijah
General
Forest Glen; or, The Mohawk's Friendship
Kellogg, Elijah
Frontier and pioneer life -- Juvenile fiction; Quakers -- Juvenile fiction
One day he was digging among the broken pottery under the shelving bank
on the site of the old Indian village, and unearthed the upper half of
a pot, the edge of the mouth rolled over, making a very broad flange.
He took it to Mr. Honeywood, who told him that it was done by the
Indian squaws to hold a withe to hang it over the fire by.
"I should think it would burn off."
"They put clay upon it, and watched it: if the clay fell off, put on
more."
"Mr. Honeywood, how did you know so much about Indians? and how did
you learn to talk Indian?"
"I learned to speak the language from two men in Baltimore, who had
been prisoners with them a long time: of their customs I learned a
great deal more from Wasaweela the Mohawk, with whom I hunted and
camped a whole winter."
Sammy now went to work, and made some very thick and strong pots, that
would hold two pailfuls, after the Indian form, and fastened withes
to them. They were very useful, for the women could hang them on the
crane, and boil meat or vegetables.
They kept a little clay at home to smear them with, which was seldom
necessary if the fire was made with judgment directly under the bottom
of the pot, and not suffered to blaze upon the sides.
Sammy now wished to try his hand at a milk-pan; but his mother
discouraged him, because she said the milk would soak into it more or
less, and it would not be possible to keep it sweet, and after a while
the milk put in it would sour. However, he made one, just to see if he
could; and it looked just like his mother's except the glazing. How
he wished he could glaze! He made pitchers and drinking-mugs, and put
handles on them by forming a roll of clay, and then sticking them on
when the ware was partly dry. He would stick the upper end of the roll
of clay on the vessel, then dip his hand in water, form the roll into
proper shape, and attach the lower end, then smooth with a moist rag.
After these unglazed dishes became foul, Sammy purified them by putting
them in the kiln, and baking them again. He made another improvement
that facilitated his labor. He got Scip to plane and shave a piece of
pine perfectly round, two feet long, and three inches in diameter, and
split in equal parts with a saw. Scip then hollowed out each part, and
put dowels in one half, and bored holes to correspond in the other,
which held the pieces evenly upon each other.
When he had made a roll of clay about the size, he dipped the mould in
water, put the roll in one half, and squat the other on it, and thus
made every roll the same size perfectly; and, by counting them up, he
knew very nearly when he had cut out enough for his pot.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account