te; while the third is painted blue and gold, and has a
stove made on a new plan, for it is managed so that its own brightness
shall help to throw out the heat of the fire in an equal and agreeable
manner. The fourth and last mantelpiece is painted black, and
ornamented with ormolu; it contains a polished steel stove. Three
ormolu fenders, and five bright ones are placed together with the
mantelpieces; and they certainly make a goodly show. But we must now
leave them, and go on to see some other wonders.

Here are several most beautiful loo-tables inlaid, and they seem to
attract a good deal of attention from more than us. You look a little
puzzled at the word _inlaid_; I think I must explain it to you, by
telling you that it means pieces of different material let into a
piece of furniture to ornament it.

There are numerous models of various buildings in the Crystal Palace;
those of York Cathedral, and Chance's Lighthouse, are particularly
well made. There is also a model of the Britannia Tubular Bridge; and
there are models of many of the fine public works of London.

Here is a pair of scissors made in Sheffield, and ornamented in the
most beautiful way, with a crown for a handle; and yonder are a pair
of cotton stockings from Ireland, spun so fine that they look exactly
like silk, and indeed you would be likely to mistake them for silk, if
you were not told they were merely cotton.

How brilliant this collection of gems looks; how the stones sparkle!
they have been sent as specimens of the jewels which Ireland produces.
But here are some pretty English agates; and a huge mass of Irish rock
crystal, which is very bright and clear. In a compartment, at a little
distance, we may see a book, bound according to a new method, by which
the leaves are so firmly placed together, that they would not loosen
in ten years' time, no matter how the book was tossed about, unless
they were purposely taken out.

We must now have a look at the machinery department. Firstly, there is
the great steam-engine that works all the other steam-engines in the
Exhibition, though, of course, you cannot understand it by looking at
it; neither can I, although I know so much more than you do. Near it
is a model of a new agricultural machine for cutting, turning up, and
making into light mould, the clay of fields, so as to make it ready to
receive the seeds to be set, without the farmers being obliged to
plough the earth. There is a machine for