"
"They do get bent, sometimes," said Forester. "It requires great care
to put on a tire in such a manner, as to give it just the right degree
of force to bind the wheel strongly together, without straining it."
[Illustration: THE TIRE.]
As soon as the tire became of the right temperature, the men took it
up again with the pairs of tongs--taking hold with them at different
sides of it--and then they put it down carefully over the wheel. The
wheel immediately began to smoke on all sides. In one or two places
it burst into a flame. The blacksmith, however, paid no attention to
this, but with a hammer, which he held in his hand, he knocked it down
into its place, all around the rim; then he took up a brown pitcher
full of water, which was standing near, and began to pour the
water on, walking round and round the wheel as he did it, so as to
extinguish the flames in every part and cool the iron. When this
process was completed, Forester and Marco walked on.
"Let me see," said Forester, "where did I leave off, Marco, in my
account of the growth of a village? I was telling you about the
blacksmith's shop, I believe."
"Yes," said Marco.
"The next thing to the blacksmith's shop, in the history of a New
England village," said Forester, "is generally a store.
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