and Nat talked little and learned much.
An occasional question was all they dared to ask, and that only when the
men with whom they were associated seemed amiably disposed. Far from
pushing their way to the front they took orders obediently from their
superiors, slighting no task to which they were assigned, no matter how
trivial it appeared. In consequence sentiment throughout the factory
slowly turned in their favor. The chill silence of the workmen melted to
gradual friendliness. Two such modest boys as these could not be coming
to usurp anybody's position. No, indeed! First one and then another of
the employees advanced bits of information which were accepted so
gratefully that it became a pleasure to follow them with more. Before
two months had passed the general opinion prevailed that Tolman had been
grossly unjust to the newcomers, and with the reaction a strong desire
arose among the men to atone for any previous unfairness.

This change in the atmosphere caused the good spirits which Peter and
Nat had found it difficult to sustain through the ordeal of censure and
misrepresentation to well up in a great happiness. Their daily work
became a joy instead of a matter for dread. Making patent leather
certainly was absorbingly interesting.

They had now reached the department where the varnish was put on the
leather, and although not skilful enough to share in the actual doing
the boys gained much knowledge simply by watching the process and asking
questions. They learned that it was necessary to apply three coats of
varnish to the material, and when the slickers put them on it was a
fascinating operation. Sometimes the men used a rotary sweep of the
arm, swirling the varnish round and round over the surface of the
leather; sometimes they took quick backward and forward strokes. Usually
four men worked together enameling a single skin. Amateurs would have
spread the japan too thickly in some spots, too thinly in others; but
not so these veterans at their trade. Deftly the blue-black liquid--so
elastic and so oily--was coated over the leather, and the glistening
finish put out in the sun to dry. After the second coat had hardened it
was rubbed down with pumice that the surface might be perfectly smooth
before the final layer of japan was applied. The last coat was then put
on evenly with the spreaders of thin wood, and before the material was
put out for its last sunning it was baked in an oven heated to a
temperatu