"How is iron taken from the ore?" asked Samuel. Thomas replied:

"The ore is first crushed into coarse dust, and then washed. Afterwards
this dust is melted in a hot furnace, and the iron is separated from the
melted stone, or dross, in a manner which is very troublesome, and which
father can explain to you better than I can. Sometimes the ore is almost
all iron; John and I have some pieces in our cabinets, in which you
cannot see any stone."

"But did men go down this deep well?" asked Samuel.

"Yes; they were lowered down in buckets. And the water was pumped out by
a machine. The water was so cold, even in the middle of summer, that one
could scarcely hold his hand in it."

The boys began to throw stones down one of the wells, so that they might
guess by hearing them strike the bottom, how deep it was. The first
stones were too small to be heard; then they threw larger ones, and
listened, but could hear no sound. At last, John took up a piece of rock
as big as his head, and rolled it into the well. It fell with a hollow,
rumbling noise, and all was then still. The boys thought it had reached
the bottom; but all at once they heard it splash into water. Then the
boys knew that the well was very deep, for the stone had been falling
several seconds. They then hunted among the piles of ore for some
handsome pieces to give to Samuel; after which, they picked up their
basket, and hurried on toward Daddy Hall's.

On reaching his house, they found the old man sitting at the door, while
his son, a good boy, was preparing to take the donkey to market, with a