THE COTTAGE FIRESIDE 81 



binod. What a true artist he was, the grand blacksmith 

 who did this admirable piece of work in his village forge. 

 How well he felt where his material must go for simple 

 strength and use, and when and where, having served this 

 purpose, it might be drawn out into pure ornament, to 

 gratify the eyes of those who should see it for hundreds of 

 years to come, and to satisfy his own pride and delight in 

 the doing of beautiful work. 



The bottom of the upright is rounded and is set in a 

 stone, in which it can work freely. The rounded top of the 

 upright bar (shown free in the picture) works in a socket 

 •or loop in a short iron cramp built into the wall, so that, 

 the whole thing revolves easily in a quarter of a circle 

 forward and back. The pot hangs on the hook, which can 

 be raised or lowered according to the height it is to hang 

 above the fire. As shown it is at its highest point. It 

 might have been better had it been photographed with the 

 lever nearly horizontal, resting under the sixth button on 

 the quadrant counting from the bottom, instead of under 

 the second. Then the smaller double turn of ornament 

 that is fixed to the slightly-curved piece of bar from which 

 the hook swings, would have come straight with the larger 

 pair of curved braces attached to the quadrant, and the 

 •ornamental value of the bossy rivet between the two would 

 have shown more clearly. 



It should be noted, also, that this handsome crane had 

 a third movement ; the top bar forms a railroad on which 

 the wheel travels, carrying with it the quadrant and its 

 .attachments ; the square-built framework at the back alone 

 remaining stationary. This movement allows any place over 

 the wide wood-tire from left to right to be chosen. 



The simpler crane of older work has only the one 

 movement, that of swinging forward and back on its top 



