Steel is iron made very hard. Knives, axes, hatchets, and other tools are made of steel. Many little things are made of steel. Mention some of them.
Which is the most valuable of all metals? Is all the gold made into money? Is money made of pure gold? Why? Name articles of ornament made of gold. Articles of use. Are gold watches, chains, and rings usually made of pure gold? Why? What do you call the man who makes these articles?
| CASTING IRON FROM THE ORE. |
Silver is the whitest and most lustrous of all the metals. What does "lustrous" mean? Is iron lustrous? Are silver articles usually made of pure silver? Why?
Silver and gold are found among the mountains in the west. Sometimes they are dug out of the ground. Sometimes they are found in rocks, and the rocks must be broken up before they can be taken out.
| SOMETIMES MEN WASH DOWN THE HILLS. |
Sometimes men wash down the hills with streams of water in order to get at the silver or gold among the rocks.
Gold and silver are called the precious metals because they do not rust, and on account of their scarcity.
Tin is white and bright, but too soft to make articles which shall be light and strong. Therefore, thin plates of iron are dipped into melted tin. The tin adheres to the iron and makes it bright like tin itself.
A thin sheet of iron, covered with tin, is called tin-plate. It is of this that our tin cups, pans, and kitchen utensils are made. A tin cup is really made of iron.