Finding one for himself he turned it over, and, sitting down opposite him, said:
“Fire away.”
“What,” asked Billy, “is the difference between iron and steel?”
“If you were to put that question as it ought to be put,” answered Mr. Prescott, pushing his box against the wall, and leaning back with his hands in his pockets, “you would ask what is the difference between irons and steels.
“If I were to talk all day, I couldn’t fully answer that question; but perhaps I can clear things up for you just a little.
“In the first place, every mining region produces its own variety of ore—so there are a great many kinds of iron to start with. In the next place, the kind of iron that you get from the ore depends largely on how you treat it.
“I suppose that you have seen a blacksmith shoe horses, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” answered Billy. “I knew a blacksmith up in the country.”
“Well,” said Mr. Prescott, “how did he work?”
“He heated the shoe red-hot on the forge, and then hammered it into shape on the anvil.”