How Do We Rank? Journal on Israel Potter “The bricks immediately lining the vaults would be all burnt to useless scrolls, black as charcoal…the next tier would be a little less withered, but hardly fit for service; and gradually, as you went higher and higher along the successive layers of kiln, you came to the midmost ones, sound, square, and perfect bricks, bringing the highest prices; from these the contents of the kiln gradually …showed first 75 words of 353 total…

…showed last 75 words of 353 total…Britain, which would explain why the first set of bricks are burnt (from bombing). They also lay the foundation for all of the other bricks to climb high. The next set, “a little less withered” perhaps represents the aftermath of war and is symbolic of the rebuilding period. The middle, strongest bricks refer to America flourishing and coming into her own. But as America grows it becomes corrupt, thus the bricks are “black as charcoal.”