towels and dishcloths are already common; but when paper shall
fully come to its own, it is quite possible that there will be little
washing of dishes. They can be as pretty as any one could wish, but so
cheap that after each meal they can be dropped into the fire. Indeed,
there are few things in a house, except a stove, that cannot be made
of some form of paper,--and perhaps that too will be some day.

V

HOW BOOKS ARE MADE

The first step in making ready to print a manuscript is to find out
how many words there are in it, what kind of type to use, how much
"leading" or space between the lines there shall be, and what shall
be the size of the page. In deciding these questions, considerable
thinking has to be done. If the manuscript is a short story by a
popular author, it may be printed with wide margins and wide leading
in order to make a book of fair size. If it is a lengthy manuscript
which will be likely to sell at a moderate but not a high price, it
is best to use only as much leading as is necessary to make the line
stand out clearly, and to print with a margin not so wide as to
increase the expense of the book. The printer prints a sample of the
page decided upon, any desired changes are made, and then the making
of the book begins.

[Illustration: _Courtesy The Riverside Press._

WHERE THIS BOOK WAS SET UP

The monotype girl wrote these words on her keyboard, where they made
tiny holes in a roll of paper. The roll went to the casting-room where
it guided a machine to make the type much as a perforated music-roll
guides a piano to play a tune.]

The type is kept in a case at which the compositor stands. This case
is divided into shallow compartments, each compartment containing a
great many e's or m's as the case may be. The "upper case" contains
capitals; the "lower case," small letters. Those letters which are
used most often are put where the compositor can reach them most
readily. He stands before his case with a "composing stick" in his
hand. This "stick" is a little iron frame with a slide at the side,
so that the line can be made of any length desired. The workman soon
learns where each letter is, and even an apprentice can set the type
in his stick reasonably rapidly. On one side of every piece of type
there is a groove, so that he can tell by touch whether it is right
side up or not. He must look out especially to make his right-hand
margins regular. You will notice in books that the li