"It don't require much effort," said the man;
and, having his glass all ready to drop, he put the pipe into Lawrence's
hand, who lowered the stretching, purse-shaped lump into the mould, and
blew. He blew till a bubble sprang up on the top of the mould, and
cracked like a pistol: then with a laugh gave back the pipe to the man.
The mould was opened, and a nice little inkstand came out.
"You shall keep that to remember us by," said
the gaffer. "But don't touch it yet!"-- as Lawrence was about to handle
it. "It 's hissing hot! I'll mark it so we shall know it again."
This done he took up a handful of the glass
tinsel from a heap formed by the breaking bubbles, crushed it, threw it
in the air, and said, as it fell in a glittering shower, "This is the
diamond dust ladies powdered their hair with a few years ago."
As they passed on, he continued: "You have now
seen the two processes by which blown glass is made,-- the simple
blowing, which is as ancient as the time of Moses, and the modern process
of blowing into moulds. Here is something else."
A workman, who had gathered some metal, dropped
it without blowing at all, into an elaborately constructed mould, the
several parts of which were opened and closed by means of at least half
a dozen handles. The soft, glowing glass being securely shut into it,
the mould was shoved under a strong hand-press, and a plunger brought down
forcibly into it by a man at the lever. The plunger being lifted, and
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