E-text prepared by Sigal Alon, La Monte H.P. Yarroll, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 19423-h.htm or 19423-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/4/2/19423/19423-h/19423-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/4/2/19423/19423-h.zip) THE STORY OF PORCELAIN by SARA WARE BASSETT Author of "The Story of Lumber" "The Story of Wool" "The Story of Leather" "The Story of Glass" "The Story of Sugar" "The Story of Silk" etc. Illustrated by Isabel W. Caley [Illustration: "IT WAS NO ORDINARY DOG"] [Illustration] The Penn Publishing Company Philadelphia 1919 Copyright 1919 by The Penn Publishing Company [Illustration] The Story of Porcelain _To_ _Margaret Huxley_ _this book is affectionately inscribed_ THE BOWL Some master-craftsman, maker of porcelains, to the Emperor, the Son of Heaven, Having attained the paradise of artists, who mould in life and fire, Fashioned this day: A bowl blue as the iris within the sacred gardens, Based with a low design of brown bare hills, A pine or two new-tipped with tender needles, With oak buds, pink and saffron, And birds red, brown, and blue. Into this bowl, exquisite and perishable, The Patron of all artists heaps light and more light; Then holding high the brimming chalice, quaffs, And folds it in his altar-cloth of stars. Carl H. Grabo. (_From the Nation_.) Contents I. Into the Woods II. Mr. Croyden Keeps His Promise III. Theo Meets with a Calamity IV. Mr. Croyden's Story V. The Potter Who Burned His Chairs VI. From Vases to Drain-Pipes VII. Porcelain at Last VIII. The Third Famous Potter IX. The Romance of French China-Making X. How the Italians Made China XI. Our English Cousins XII. Theo Makes a Present XIII. The Trenton Visit XIV. The Beginning of the Porcelain Pilgrimage XV. How Porcelain is Made XVI. Dishes, Dishes Everywhere XVII. The Decoration of China XVIII. Theo's Great Choice Illustrations "It Was No Ordinary Dog" _Frontispiece_ "I Had Forgotten All About Bed" "He Used Every Splinter of Wood" "His Servants Dug Some of the Clay" "This is a Present" "It is a Costly Process, and Rather Slow" [Illustration] THE STORY OF PORCELAIN CHAPTER I INTO THE WOODS