Produced by Sigal Alon, La Monte H.P. Yarroll and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: THE THRONG OF MOVING WORKMEN] THE STORY OF GLASS By SARA WARE BASSETT Author of "The Story of Lumber" "The Story of Wool" "The Story of Leather" "The Story of Sugar" etc. ILLUSTRATED BY C. P. GRAY THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY PHILADELPHIA 1917 COPYRIGHT 1916 BY THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY _To G. C._ _a patient listener and a helpful critic I inscribe this book as a reminder of many happy hours which we spent together in the Old World_ _S. W. B._ Contents I. A FRIENDLY FEUD 9 II. JEAN HAS A SURPRISE AND GIVES ONE 27 III. GIUSIPPE TELLS A STORY 50 IV. UNCLE BOB ENLARGES HIS PARTY 66 V. GIUSIPPE ENCOUNTERS AN OLD FRIEND 83 VI. UNCLE BOB AS STORY TELLER 99 VII. AMERICA ONCE MORE 121 VIII. JEAN THREATENS TO STEAL GIUSIPPE'S TRADE 140 IX. A REUNION 163 X. TWO UNCLES AND A NEW HOME 182 XI. JEAN'S TELEGRAM AND WHAT IT SAID 208 XII. JEAN AND GIUSIPPE EACH FIND A NICHE IN LIFE 220 Illustrations Page THE THRONG OF MOVING WORKMEN _Frontispiece_ "EVERY ONE KNOWS ME AT THE GLASS WORKS" 47 "I KNEW HER IN VENICE" 95 "IT IS SHAPED TO THE FORM REQUIRED" 160 "THE MELT IS POURED OUT ON AN IRON TABLE" 202 "I WANT THESE ORDERS FILLED" 223 THE STORY OF GLASS CHAPTER I A FRIENDLY FEUD Jean Cabot "lived around." She did not live around because nobody wanted her, however; on the contrary, she lived around because so many people wanted her. Both her father and mother had died when Jean was a baby and so until she was twelve years old she had been brought up by a cousin of her mother's. Then the cousin had married a missionary and had gone to teach the children in China, and China, as you will agree, was no place for an American girl to go to school. Therefore Jean was sent to Boston and put in charge of her uncle, Mr. Robert Cabot. Uncle Bob was delighted with the arrangement, for they were great friends, Jean and this boy-uncle of hers. But no sooner did she arrive in Boston and settle down to live on Beacon Hill than up rose Uncle Tom Curtis, Jean's other uncle, who lived in Pittsburgh. He made a dreadful fuss because Jean had gone to Uncle Bob's to live. _He_ wanted her out in Pittsburgh, and he wrote that Fraeulein Decker, who was his housekeeper, and had been governess to Jean's own mother, wanted her too. That started Hannah, Uncle Bob's housekeeper.