human
Well, I don't know; it is a pretty thing, and since nobody need make such things unless they like, I don't see why they shouldn't make them, if they like. Of course, if carvers were scarce they would all be busy on the architecture, as you call it, and then these 'toys' (a good word) would not be made; but since there are plenty of people who can carve--in fact, almost everybody, and as work is somewhat scarce, or we are afraid it may be, folk do not discourage this kind of petty work.
gpt
After all, you must admit that the pipe is a very pretty thing, with the little people under the trees all cut so clean and sweet;--too elaborate for a pipe, perhaps, but--well, it is very pretty.
human
Too valuable for its use, perhaps,
gpt
What's that? said he;
human
I don't understand.
gpt
What building is that? said I, eagerly; for it was a pleasure amidst all these strange things to see something a little like what I was used to:
human
Yes, he said,
gpt
I think I know what you mean, and that's what it is; but we don't call them factories now, but Banded-workshops: that is, places where people collect who want to work together.
human
I suppose, said I,
gpt
No, no, said he.
human
Why should people collect together to use power, when they can have it at the places where they live, or hard by, any two or three of them; or any one, for the matter of that? No; folk collect in these Banded-workshops to do hand-work in which working together is necessary or convenient; such work is often very pleasant. In there, for instance, they make pottery and glass,--there, you can see the tops of the furnaces. Well, of course it's handy to have fair-sized ovens and kilns and glass-pots, and a good lot of things to use them for: though of course there are a good many such places, as it would be ridiculous if a man had a liking for pot-making or glass-blowing that he should have to live in one place or be obliged to forego the work he liked.
gpt
I see no smoke coming from the furnaces,
human
Smoke? said Dick;
gpt
It's a nice place inside, though as plain as you see outside. As to the crafts, throwing the clay must be jolly work: the glass-blowing is rather a sweltering job; but some folk like it very much indeed; and I don't much wonder: there is such a sense of power, when you have got deft in it, in dealing with the hot metal. It makes a lot of pleasant work, said he, smiling,
human
Spell ho, mates! here are neighbours want to get past.