II. The Bricklayer
The next day dawned bright and sunny, with only a merry little breeze to remind one of yesterday’s storm.
The bricklayer did not come before the children started to school in the morning, but just after lunch. They had only time to watch him and his helper climb to the roof.
“I am going to get home from school early,” said Wallace; “maybe they will not be through by that time.”
“I am, too,” Ruth chimed in. “I wonder what bricks are,” she added.
“Bricks? Why, don’t you know?” asked Wallace. “Our manual training teacher told us that bricks are a sort of imitation stone made of moistened clay and sand mixed together, and shaped as we see them. They are baked in an oven-like place, called a kiln, or dried in the sun.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that. I wonder who first thought of making them. They are something like sun-baked mud-pies,” said Ruth.
“Our teacher said that bricks three thousand years old have been found in Egypt, some with writing on them.”
“Oh, I remember that the Bible tells about bricks. Why, Wallace, men must have been bricklayers for thousands of years!”
“It is lucky for us they haven’t forgotten how to make them, for what could we do without a chimney?” said Wallace. “Hello, there is Harry! I want to see him about the ball game;” and away he ran.