very abruptly, and as if he had half a mind not to speak at all,
because he could not speak in his own way. 

"None but fools," said he, "have much to say about themselves--
'Deeds, not words,' is a good motto for all.  But as I would not be
churlish, and as I have agreed, as well as the rest of my
companions, to tell my story, I will mention what few things worth
relating I can recollect. 

I have no distinct consciousness, as my friend the pitcher or the
curling tongs has, of what I was before the ingenuity of man brought
me into my present form.  I would only mention that all the different
materials of which I was formed must have been perfect of their
kind, or I could never have performed the duties required of me. 

My first very distinct recollection is of being stood up in the way
I am standing now, with a long row of my brethren, of the same shape
and character as myself, as I supposed.  This was in a large building
somewhere in England.  I, like the curling tongs, was at last packed
up in a box, and brought to America, but it took a rather larger box