CHAPTER XIII 



METAL PLATING 



IX the morning some wandering coppersmiths were 

 I ai 111:. Mother Ambroisine had sold them the 

 old kettle. Besides the sale, they were to make 

 over the lamp whose foot had melted on the stove, 

 and replate two saucepans. So the smiths lighted 

 a lire in the open air, set up their bellows on the 

 ground, and in a large round iron spoon melted the 

 old lamp, adding a little tin to replace what had 

 lost. The melted metal was run into a mold, 

 from which it came out in the shape of a lamp. This 

 lamp, still pretty large, was fixed on a lathe which 

 a little boy set in motion; and while it turned, the 

 master touched it with the edge of a steel tool. The 

 tin thus planed off fell in thin shavings, rolled up 

 like en rl papers. The lamp was visibly becoming 



et ; it took the proper polish and shape. 

 Afterward they busied themselves plating the 

 copper saucepans. They cleaned them thoroughly 

 in>ide with sand, put them on the lire, and. when 

 they were very hot, went over the whole of their 

 ace with a tow pad and a little melted tin. 

 \Yherevrr the pad rubbed, the tin stuck to the cop- 

 ln a f-w moments the inside of the saucepan, 

 red before, was now shiny white. 



Kmile ;uid Jules, while ratin- their little lunch of 



66 



