Here are some. You see they look like only
irregular lumps of muddy-tinted broken glass. Here is a finished one."
The old lady exhibited a piece of solid brass about an inch long,
three-quarters of an inch in width, and one-sixteenth in thickness. In its
center was a small disk of stone with a hole through it, a hole that was
very smooth, wide on one side and hardly perceptible on the other. The
stone was sunk deep into the brass and bedded firmly in it. She went on:
"You will find, if you try, that you can with difficulty push through that
hole a hair from your beard. But, small as it is, it must be perfectly
smooth, and of an accurate gauge. I do not any longer myself set the
stones in the brass, as I am not so strong as I once was. My son does that
for me. But neither he nor my daughter, nor anybody else in this country,
I believe, can bore the holes so well as I can even yet. 'How long does a
draw plate last?' Ah! Practically forever. Except by clumsy handling or
accident, it does not need to be replaced, at least in one lifetime. And
there is another reason why I sell so few now. Those who require them are
supplied. 'Watch jewels?' Yes, I used to make them, but do so no longer.
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