THE COTTAGE FIRESIDE 97 



tongs I have ever seen. Its lines fill one with the satisfac- 

 tion caused by a thing that is exactly right, and with admira- 

 tion for the wit and skill of a true artist. For, simple country 

 smith though he may have been, the man who forged this 

 beautiful little implement had the hand and mind and heart 

 ol the true artist. The thing strikes one as perfect in pro- 

 portion and balance and rightness of line. The ends that 

 pick up the coal are fashioned into two little hands ; the 

 edges have slight mouldings, and even a low bead enrich- 

 ment. The circular flat on the side away from the project- 

 ing stopper has two tiny engraved pictures ; on one side of 



Brand-Tongs 



the joint a bottle and tall wine-glass, on the other a pair of 

 long clay pipes crossed, and a bowl of tobacco shown in 

 section. The flat sides of the handles, and up as far 

 as the shoulder where the plain shaft begins, have a 

 : purfling ' of two engraved lines, one heavy and one slight. 

 On the outside of the handle to which the spring is fixed is 

 engraved the name of a member of a fine working family, 

 whose relatives and descendants are still numerous in the 

 district, with the date 1795. 



Of about the same date must be the bellows with turned 

 body and brass nozzle, on the left-hand side of the picture. 

 The other is the ordinary kitchen bellows, that happily 



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