MARK OF
DRESDEN CHINA.
"Because the Chinese jealously kept all their clay to themselves," answered Uncle Jack.
"How did that man come to discover where the clay was, and if it was of the right kind?" asked Al.
MARK OF
WORCESTER PORCELAIN.
"By a strange chance. According to the fashion of the time, men powdered their hair, using wheat flour for that purpose. One day a neighbor of the chemist, in traveling an unfrequented part of the country, observed on his horse's hoofs some white sticky clay, and it occurred to him that this white clay, dried and powdered, would make an excellent and cheap substitute for wheat flour as a hair powder. So he carried a little home with him, and some of it finally reached Böttcher. The chemist found it extremely heavy, and, fearing the presence of some metal hurtful to the skin, he tested the clay in his laboratory. To his surprise and joy this white hair-powder proved itself possessed of the same qualities as the veritable Chinese kaolin, as their clay is called."
"Why, that sounds like a story," said Matie.
TERRA COTTA VASE.
"Here now," said Uncle Jack, "is a vase; that might carry the mind back thousands of years, to the time when bodies were burned instead of buried, and the ashes kept in just such urns as this."