When Ben got home, he found his father
sitting at the table, all washed and ready to eat. His father
was the pot man at the Scythe Works. He made the great vase-like
pots that the crucible men melted their steel in. Each night
he came home exhausted and covered with clay dust. He had
to strip off his clothes and wash himself down at the big
stone sink while Nan brought him hot water from the fire.*
* Making Change from the "Cellar
Lad" in Australian Readers: Discovering Democracy. Upper
Primary Collection. Curriculum Corporation. Commonwealth of
Australia, 1999. (Used by permission)
