138 BBRTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



seeing a great deal that was quite new to me, and 

 very interesting. 



The pin manufactory we saw in every part, 

 from the straightening the brass wire before it is 

 cut into the proper lengths, to the last operation, 

 by which the pins are whitened. But as Marianne 

 will find all the particulars detailed in the Book 

 of Trades, I will only say, that the thing which 

 seemed to shew the most expert fingers, was 

 the putting the pins into the heads, and riveting 

 them by a slight blow on an anvil. This is done 

 by children, who take the heads out of an iron 

 pot in which they have been heated, and instantly 

 pop the bits of wire into them ; and the never- 

 failing exactness with which it is done is really 

 wonderful. My uncle afterwards told us that a 

 patent has been lately obtained for a very 

 ingenious improvement, by which the head is 

 raised upon the wire itself, so that the whole pin 

 consists of a single piece of brass. 



The sticking the pins into the papers, which 

 are folded and placed against the edge of the 

 bench, is also very curious. And when I recol- 

 lected the great variety of people who had been 

 employed in preparing the materials from the 

 time the metals were dug out of the mine till the 

 wire was drawn, along with those whom I had 

 just seen engaged in the different operations in 

 this manufactory, I could not but feel astonished 



