Upon the table was another little table, round and low, and upon this Mr. Sands placed his "loaf." Then the young man began to turn the wheel and the loaf began to spin round very rapidly. Mr. Sands next pressed his finger right through the middle of the clay, so farming the hole which we always see at the bottom of flower-pots. Then, as it spun round, he worked the clay gradually upwards and sloped it outwards, using both hands, and holding the edges with his fingers and thumbs. Before Charley could express his surprise, the little roll of clay was changed into a flower-pot. With a square iron tool called a _rib_ it was smoothed outside, and then the pot was lifted on a board. One after another followed till a long row was ready and they were carried off to be dried. "How do you know when to leave off stretching it?" asked Mary of the potter. He laughed, and pointed to a small iron gauge on the table. As soon as the pot reached this he knew he must leave off stretching it out. This iron is of course put higher or lower according to the size required. "Now I'll make you a pitcher, missie," said the good-natured man, and with the same kind of clay, just rounding it a bit and giving a cunning little pinch to form the spout, he made quite a pretty jug. "Where's the handle?" asked Charley. "Oh, that can't go on yet, sir! We must wait till the jug is dry, for we could not press it tight enough to make it stick." Bread-pans and washing-pans are made in exactly the same way as flower-pots, being moulded by the hand into different forms. When the pots and pans leave the potter's wheel they are taken, as we saw, to dry, and great care is required to keep them at a certain heat, for if the frost gets to them now they crack and are useless. "Here's a comical little pot!" exclaimed Charley, holding up a wee one. "We call them _long Toms_," said Mr. Sands. "They are mostly used by nursery-gardeners, because they take so little room." "How long do they take to dry?" asked Mary, looking longingly at her little jug. "About a day; so we will leave your jug with the others, and go to the kiln to see how they will be burnt to-morrow." The kiln was round, with a big doorway, called a wicket. The pots and pans are put inside, great care being taken that they should not touch each other, or they would stick like loaves of bread. Pans are first glazed with a mixture of blue or red lead. The fire is burning below, and there are holes to allow the flames to pass upwards amongst the pottery. When the kiln is full the wicket is bricked up and daubed over with road-mud. "Fancy using such dirty stuff!" said Mary. "The manure in it makes it stick, just as hair does in mortar. Clay would crack with the heat. So you see, dear, there's nothing so dirty or so common that it may not be of some use in the world." "How do you know when they are cooked enough?" asked Charley.