ibing the foundry
buildings: The first is for the furnaces, containing the vast caldron
for the fusing of the metal; in the second is a kind of shallow well,
where the bell would have to be modeled in clay.

"The object to be first attained is a hollow mold of the exact size and
shape of the intended bell, into which the liquid metal is poured
through a tube from the furnace, and this mold is constructed in the
following simple but ingenious manner:

"Suppose the bell to be six feet high, a brick column of about that
height is built something in the shape of the outside of a bell. Upon
the smooth surface of this solid bell-shaped mass can now be laid
figures, decorations, and inscriptions in wax; a large quantity of the
most delicately prepared clay is then produced, the model is slightly
washed with some kind of oil to prevent the fine clay from sticking to
it, and three or four coats of the fine clay in an almost liquid state
are daubed carefully all over the model. Next, a coating of common clay
is added to strengthen the mold to the thickness of some inches. And
thus the model stands with its great bell-shaped cover closely fitting
over it.

"A fire is now lighted underneath, the brick work in the interior is
heated, through the clay, through the wax ornaments and oils, which
steam out in vapor through two holes at the top, leaving their
impressions on the inside of the cover (of clay).

[Illustration: The Belfry: Bergues]

"When everything is baked thoroughly hard, the cover is raised bodily
into the air by a rope, and held suspended some feet exactly above the
model. In the interior of the cover thus raised will, of course, be
found the exact impression in hollow of the outside of the bell. The
model of clay and masonry is then broken up, and its place is taken by
another perfectly smooth model, only smaller--exactly the size of the
inside of the bell, in fact. On this the great cover now descends, and
is stopped in time to leave a hollow space between the new model and
itself. This is effected simply by the bottom rim of the new model
forming a base, at the proper distance upon which the rim of the clay
cover may rest in its descent.

"The hollow space between the clay cover and second clay mold is now the
exact shape of the required bell, and only waits to be filled with
metal.

"So far all has been comparatively easy; but the critical moment has now
arrived. The furnaces have long been smoking; the bri