"I am glad of that," the elder man asserted heartily.
"And I, too, Theo," murmured Mrs. Croyden. "Do not forget that you have given us far more pleasure than you could possibly have received. Mr. Croyden and I are often very lonely for a son like you. It has been a boon to have you here. That is why you must not let this ambitious husband of mine tire you all out by setting you too strenuously at porcelain-making," she added playfully. "Is it to-morrow that you plan to drag Theo forth on this crusade to the factory, my dear?"
Mr. Croyden glanced up at the words.
"Yes, to-morrow morning. I shall take Theo down to the works with me directly after breakfast," he answered. "You better get to bed early to-night, son, so to be prepared for the worst."
"I shan't waste any worry about the trip," grinned Theo as they rose from the dinner table.
It was a warm night, and the three strolled out on the veranda, which overlooked the green of the country club.
"I suppose," Theo remarked, "nobody has any idea when pottery and porcelain were first made in America."
"Barring out the pottery of the Mound Builders, the American Indians, and the early clay work done in West Virginia I imagine our modern china was first introduced into America at Philadelphia," Mr. Croyden said. "At least records would indicate that to be the case. Between 1760 and 1770 potteries sprung up there and thrived so lustily that Wedgwood noted their success and urged the English government to check them lest they injure English trade. At these Philadelphia factories hard porcelain with a good quality of glaze was turned out; also much blue and white stone-china in the form of jars, butter-pots, bowls, and plates. Some mortars and pestles such as Wedgwood himself made were also manufactured, so what wonder that he was disturbed at the thought of losing the monopoly? In a letter to a friend he speaks of pottery being made in the Carolinas as well, and declares it would be a great calamity were the colonies to begin making their own dishes."
"The idea!" burst out Theo.
"It was business," replied Mr. Croyden. "Of course England would far rather ship her wares to America and collect the revenue than to have the colonists learn to do without her. For a long time, as the early papers assure us, crates of Queen's ware and the coarser brown earthenwares, as well as quantities of stone-china continued to be shipped to America, and advertised for sale. In the meantime, however, the new settlers were contriving to make earthenware jars, jugs, flasks, mugs, and teapots of their own, and supplemented by the pewter dishes they had brought with them from England, they were managing to get on very well without outside aid. Not only was salt glaze pottery manufactured in Philadelphia along with a small amount of real porcelain, but in such Connecticut towns as Norwalk, Hartford, and Stonington experiments with earthenware were also being made. By 1810 the Secretary of the Treasury reported great progress in the manufacture of Queen's ware, and it is evident from what he says that by this time the coarser varieties of earthenware were being very generally manufactured; he also mentions four factories for the finer types of porcelain-making."