Steve Brekke, age 12, of Santee, California, for his question:

What is a lapidary?

The word "lapidary" came to us from an older word for stone. A lapidary is a person who treats precious or semi precious stones by cutting them, polishing them, shaping them or setting them in jewelry. He is a craftsman with skillful hands. He also is trained to tell one kind of.stone from another so that he can choose the best ones. And one more thing, a lapidary is almost sure to admire stones and like them. Chances are, he sees the beauties in them that we see and also other beauties and qualities that we do not notice.

If you are a rock collector, you too    admire different stones. You enjoy them even more when you cut and polish them with your own hands. Many people do lapidary work as a hobby. And later, some of them become the very finest lapidaries.