All these creations entered the oven as hot as they came from the last manipulator, but gradually cooled off to the temperature of the atmosphere. Getting used to the hardships of life requires twenty-four hours, during which the trays on which the glass stands are slowly moved from the hot to the temperate end of the oven. This procession was an object lesson in life as well as in glass. "Make haste slowly or you'll defeat yourself," was the burden of the song those things of beauty sang to themselves and to all who listened. If American cut glass has grown beyond compare, it is largely due to the superior intelligence of American artisans. They have the "sand": so, too, have the beautiful hills of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, whence comes the purest quality the whole world has known. The best flint glass exhibited at the Paris Exposition of 1867 owed its excellence to the treasure stowed away in Western Massachusetts. [Illustration] The finest American flint glass of the Columbian Exposition found its inspiration in the same part of the old Bay State. Little did those visitors to the Fair know whence came the hot fires of Libbey's Glass House. They little knew that oil was drawn in pipes from Ohio, and that one hundred and fifty barrels of petroleum lay buried under innocent-looking grass, that looked up and asked not to be trodden under foot. Of course, had lightning struck those two great hidden tanks of liquid dynamite, we should all have been sent to that bourne whence no World's Fair visitor could have returned. Seventy-five barrels of oil were burned daily on the Midway Plaisance. How many gallons? Three thousand. Multiply one day's fire by one hundred and eighty days and you discover that the drama of glass at the Fair was the death of fifty-four thousand gallons of petroleum. EPILOGUE THE ACTRESS AND THE INFANTA [Illustration: GEORGIA CAYVAN] Ever since the era of fairy tales the world has heard of glass slippers. Cinderella wore them and great was the romance thereof. But whoever before 1893 heard of a glass dress, and who conceived such a novel idea? [Illustration] From that memorable day in the Garden of Eden when Eve ate that apple, which may literally be called the fruit of all knowledge, woman has been at the bottom of everything: it was a woman who got it into her head that she wanted a glass dress. How did it happen? Thus: In the middle of May, 1893, women from all parts of the earth took Chicago by storm. Theirs was the first of one hundred congresses, and among many artists was Georgia Cayvan, whose record on and off the stage does credit to her head and heart. Of course the clever actress visited the Fair and of course she followed the multitude and found herself watching the process of making American glass. It was not long before Miss Cayvan's quick eye was attracted by an exhibit of spun and woven glass lamp shades.