C. Y. P. R. U.
How Pottery is Made.—In looking over some old papers I came across this essay, and thought it might interest the Postmistress:
The various kinds of clay used in making pottery are found in nearly all the countries of the globe. There is a particular kind found at Amboy, New Jersey, of a grayish-white color, so caused by the presence of iron.
The first process, after being taken from the ground, is kneading it until it resembles bread in the sponge. After this process, it is thrown upon a slab, where it is taken by a second workman, who places it upon a circular board made to revolve by a wheel underneath it, worked by a treadle.
The second process is the designing of articles, which requires a great deal of skill and patience. After being turned, patted, and hollowed out by the workman, the clay is ready for baking, after sometimes being ornamented with figures cut in the pottery while wet, and painted with blue or some other color.
The baking of pottery is very slow, and requires great care. The articles to be baked are placed on several wire shelves, and when the oven is full, the door is bricked up to make it air-tight.
Below this oven are two sets of arches; in the lower of which a fire is made, which increases in heat gradually.
After twenty-four hours a second fire is made in the upper arches, of still greater heat, which is kept up for twenty-four hours more.
At the end of fifty hours the door is partially removed, and the ware taken out by means of long, slender sticks, and examined to see if it is thoroughly done.
The glazing process was discovered by accident. A workman in a pottery in Germany, some time in the Middle Ages, to spite his employer, threw salt on some ware which was baking, but, to his amazement, found a beautiful glaze on the pottery instead of the ruin he had desired.
C. S. C., C.Y.
We would call the attention of the C. Y. P. R. U. this week to Mr. C. W. Fisher's sketch of "The First Grenadier of France," and to "Millie's Nile-Bird Hat," by Mr. Arthur Lindsley. Dr. Van Giesen's article on "Advice to Boys" contains a number of suggestions that our readers will do well to make themselves familiar with before setting out on adventurous boating and bathing expeditions. Who will try and work out Mr. A. W. Roberts's suggestions in regard to "Rustic Adornments for Lawn and Garden"? If any of you do so, and are successful, the Postmistress would be glad to have you write to her about it.