“Oh!” exclaimed Billy again.
“Know about Valley Forge, do you?”
“A little,” answered Billy, very humbly.
“That’s enough to start on,” said Mr. Prescott.
Billy could almost imagine that Uncle John was talking. Billy spent a great deal more time every day than anybody realized in thinking about his Uncle John.
“Perhaps you don’t know, many people don’t,” said Mr. Prescott, “that the first name of that place was Valley Creek. It was changed to Valley Forge because a large forge plant was established there. It was one of the first places in this state where they made iron and steel.
“By the way, George Washington’s father was a maker of pig iron down in Virginia.”
“Oh!” said Billy. “There seem to be a lot of things to know about iron.”
“There’s really no end to them,” said Mr. Prescott. “They begin way back in history. Did you ever read about Goliath the giant?”
“My father used to read those stories to me,” answered Billy, “out of a great big Bible.”