“But if they put it on hot, it will burn the wood,” said Marco.

“Yes,” replied Forester, “it will burn the wood a little.  They can not help that entirely; but they stand ready with water, to pour on, as soon as the tire is in its place, and so cool it immediately, so that it does not burn the fellies enough to injure them.”

“What are the fellies?” asked Marco.

“They are the parts of the wooden rim of the wheel.  The rim is made of several pieces of wood, which are called fellies.”

So Forester took Marco to the wheel, and showed him the parts of which the rim was composed.  While Marco was looking at the wheel, the blacksmith began to push away the burning brands a little from the tire, as it began to be hot enough.  Presently he went into his shop and brought out several pairs of tongs.  With these the men lifted the tire out of the fire, but the blacksmith said it was a little too hot, and he must let it cool a minute or two.

“Why, if it’s very hot,” said Marco, “it will grip the wheel all the harder.”

“It will grip it too hard,” said Forester.  “Sometimes a tire shrinks so much as to spring the spokes out of shape.  Didn’t you ever see a wheel with the spokes bent out of shape?”

“I don’t know,” said Marco.  “I never noticed wheels much.”

“They do get bent, sometimes,” said Forester.  “It requires great care to put on a tire in such a manner, as to give it just the right degree of force to bind the wheel strongly together, without straining it.”

[Illustration:  THE TIRE.]

As soon as the tire became of the right temperature, the men took it up again with the pairs of tongs—­taking hold with them at different sides of it—­and then they put it down carefully over the wheel.  The wheel immediately began to smoke on all sides.  In one or two places it burst into a flame.  The blacksmith, however, paid no attention to this, but with a hammer, which he held in his hand, he knocked it down into its place, all around the rim; then he took up a brown pitcher full of water, which was standing near, and began to pour the water on, walking round and round the wheel as he did it, so as to extinguish the flames in every part and cool the iron.  When this process was completed, Forester and Marco walked on.

“Let me see,” said Forester, “where did I leave off, Marco, in my account of the growth of a village?  I was telling you about the blacksmith’s shop, I believe.”

“Yes,” said Marco.

“The next thing to the blacksmith’s shop, in the history of a New England village,” said Forester, “is generally a store.  You see the farmers can not raise every thing they want.  There are a great many things which come from foreign countries, which they have to buy.”

“Such as sugar and tea,” said Marco.