the die.

The first die simply hollows out the form in the plate, a second die cuts away all the surrounding metal, and a third die smooths the edges. But there is only half a horse so far, and the other half is made in the same way as the first. Both pieces are then pressed together, and we have a very shapely racer.

There are several hundred different dies for acrobats, cows, goats, boys, girls, parrots, monkeys, and other objects of natural history.

In another part of the factory we see several men seated by small furnaces, over which pans of liquid metal are simmering, and the Dexters are dipped into these, which additionally secures the two halves. The next process is coloring. Up to this point the horse has plainly been tin; but when it is dipped in a bath of white or brown or black paint, and hung out to dry, it becomes very much more life-like, and has the glossy surface of an enamel. Dipping is found preferable to painting with a brush, as it leaves a much smoother surface, and of course can be done much quicker. The superfluous paint flows back into the bath, and sometimes strings of it hang from the hoofs and ears. When they are hard, these strings are cut off with a knife, and the toy is then secured to a small platform, and "finished." The finishing is done by a score or more of men and young women seated at long benches, upon which are pots of paints and brushes. The eyes, mane, tail, and hoofs are given different colors from the body, and the Dexter is now ready for packing.

The manufacture of tin toys requires no great ability or ingenuity, and most of the persons employed in it are paid very little. A Dexter several inches long can be bought for fifteen cents at any shop, and this sum includes the profits of the producer, the wholesale merchant, and the retail seller. The producer's price to the trade is not more than seven or eight cents. But simple as it is, the toy is handled by sixteen persons before it finally reaches the little girls who wrap it in tissue-paper and put it into a card-board box. It travels up and down stairs, and makes the whole circuit of the factory; it passes from the dies to the solderers, from the solderers to the paint shops, from the paint shops to young men who put wheels upon the platform, and thence to the finishers.

Tea sets and dinner sets of Britannia metal are made in the same factory. The liquid metal is poured into iron moulds, and cups, saucers, plates, sugar-bowls, milk-pitchers, and coffee-pots are produced, twenty or thirty to the minute. Coming out of the mould, they have no lustre, and they are polished on a lathe, which gives them the appearance of burnished silver. A complete tea set, with cups and saucers for a doll and five guests, costs twenty-five cents at retail, and not more than fifteen cents at wholesale, and the man with the mould has to work briskly in order to earn his bread and butter.

[Begun in Harper's Young People No. 80, May 10.]

SUSIE KINGMAN'S DECISION.

BY KATE R. McDOWELL.

Chapter II.

The morning passed as usual, with the exception that just before recess Mr. Gorham stated that he had a few words to say to the school, and begged the closest attention. It was needless to ask that, for every eye was already fixed upon the speaker, and every face betokened the liveliest interest in what he was about to say.

In a few words Mr. Gorham unfolded the May-party project, said the honor of Queen would be given to the one who stood first in her classes, and as having looked over the records he found two of the pupils, Miss Florence Tracy and Miss Susie Kingman, ranked equally high, a vote would be taken before close of school to decide the matter. He then referred the girls to Miss Page to find out about their costumes, and finished by setting the twentieth of June, the last day of school, for the fête, then struck the bell.

The buzzing of voices that followed! Among the many exclamations one might have heard,

"It's really a June party!"

"All the better, for we never could wear thin dresses out-of-doors in May!"

"The best kind of a way to end up school!"

"Why, girls, it will be just a month from to-day. Let's find Miss Page and learn all the particulars."

At this proposal quite a number went into the recitation-room, but Susie, with her eyes on Florence's sad face, seemed chained to her seat.

"I must decide now," she was thinking. "No; I can not give it up. I gave up to Dick this morning, and that's enough for one day. Then, too, it's Friday, visitors' day, and I should just like to show them how well I stand. And when papa hears of my success he'll be delighted; he always is when he thinks I'm getting on well in my lessons. Oh no; I can not, can not give it up! Of course I shall vote for Florence, and that's all I can be expected to do. I haven't asked the girls to vote for me, and I'm not supposed to know anything about it."

"But you do know about it," said the still, small voice. "You know, moreover, that you can make Florence very happy, and that it will not affect your standing in the least."

"Oh dear!" sighed Susie. "I suppose I'll have to give it up, but I can wait until after the votes are counted, and then say I prefer Florence to have the place."

"Ah!" interposed Conscience, "your idea is 'to be seen of men.' There is no charity in that, and, besides, how would Florence feel to be so patronized? If you give it up at all, do it entirely and cheerfully."

"Oh, I can not, I really can not. It will be lovely to have all the girls for my subjects, to be waited on by them, and pass under their garlands. Why does every word I read this morning in the commentary keep coming into my mind, about one's being willing to have another honored if one can be more honored one's self? How exactly that applies to my giving up to Florence after being elected myself; and then that 'In honor preferring one another' has been running in my head all the morning. I'll just stop thinking about it, and go in Miss Page's room with the rest, and talk over the dresses. That reminds me. That lovely one I had made in the fall for Cousin Clara's wedding—I believe it will be the very thing." And she hastily went down the passage between two rows of desks.