affairs most unsatisfactory.

=The pottery shop.=--Another very ancient trade is that of the potter.
This worker did not need much of a shop; only an oven in which to fire
his products, a pile of clay, and a wheel. This consisted of a frame,
in which turned an upright rod on which were two flat wooden wheels,
one small at about the height of the worker's hands as he sat in front
of it, and the other larger, to be turned by the feet. A heap of clay
was placed on the upper wheel, which was then turned by the revolving
rod, the potter's feet all the time kicking on the larger wheel below.
The whirling mass was shaped by the fingers, according to the plan in
the worker's mind.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [Illustration: MODERN ARAB WOMAN SPINNING] |
| |
| [Illustration: ANCIENT HEBREW DOOR KEY] |
| |
| [Illustration: HEBREW NEEDLES OF BONE] |
| |
| [Illustration: SMALLER KEY] |
| |
| Cuts on this page used by permission of the Palestine Exploration |
| Fund. |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

How quickly a modern boy would have contrived a different arrangement,
with a belt and foot-tread like the one on our mother's sewing
machine! But for those days the ancient wheel was ingenious. Many
different kinds of Hebrew pottery are found in the excavations: large