white cell the guide said, 'You're in plenty of time, sir; these are the
snagger-makers.'

Two men were beating a heap of wet clay in order to insure a something in
the bakery which nobody understood, but which the guide took some trouble
to explain. The clergymen pressed forward to listen. Mr. Lennox wiped his
face, and they were then hurried into a second cell, where unbaked dishes
were piled all around upon shelves. It was said to be the dishmakers'
place, and was followed by another and another room, all of which Mr.
Lennox thought equally hot and uninteresting. He strove to escape from the
guide, who drew him through the line of clergymen and made plain to him the
mysteries of earthenware.

At last these preliminary departments were disposed of, and they were led
to another part of the works. On their way thither they passed the ovens.
These were scattered over the ground like beehives in a garden. Lennox
patted their round sides, approvingly saying that they reminded him of
oyster boys in a pantomime, and might be introduced into the next Christmas
show. Kate looked at him, her eyes full of wonder. She could not understand
how he could think of such things.

In the printing-room they listened to the guide, who apparently considered
it important that clergymen, actor, and dressmaker should understand the
different processes the earthenware had to pass through before it was
placed on toilet or breakfast table. Smoking flannels hung on lines all
around, and like laundresses at their tubs, four or five women washed the
printed paper from the plates. A man in a paper cap bent over a stove, and
as if dissatisfied with the guide's explanation of his work, broke out into
a wearisome flow of technical details. At the other end of this vast
workroom there was a line of young girls who cut the printed matter out of