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.
Ben sniffed and smiled. A grand smell
of cooking filled the cottage. Nan was ladling sheep's
head stew and dumplings into three bowls.
