“For many years, common drain-pipes and building-tiles were the only things made at the Doulton works; but some of the pottery people went to an art school, and they thought it would be a good idea to ornament some of the common things they made with the designs they had learned to draw at school.  So, with a bit of pointed stick, they made some of their favorite pictures on the soft clay objects; and when these were fired, the glaze flowed into the lines, making them darker than the other parts, and thus the drawings showed plainly.”

[Illustration:  DOULTON WARE.]

“And since they found that out, have they given up making common pipes and tiles?” asked Willie, with a look of interest.

“They still make quantities of those things at the Doulton works, but the young men and women who had received drawing lessons and applied their knowledge so well are the authors, I might almost say, of a new style of artistic pottery,” said Uncle Jack, in reply.

“Why, that was splendid, wasn’t it?” cried Matie.

“Indeed it was a triumph not only for them, but for art itself, and it shows what a good influence art has on even the humblest people,” said Uncle Jack.  “Now can you see why I did not value my little vase most for its beauty?”

“Oh yes, sir! for when you see it, you think of the potters who became artists,” said Will.

“Yes, and I never see any work of art or of patient industry without trying to understand the meaning its maker meant it to carry, and to remember the toils that were perhaps endured in its production,” replied his uncle.  Then, turning to Matie, he said:  “I brought this little ‘English pug-dog’ for you, Matie.  He doesn’t bite, and you’ll not need to give him any food,” and he put upon the table a comical little porcelain dog with a wry nose.

“Oh! isn’t it funny?  What an ugly black nose it has!” cried Matie.  “Will the black come off?”

“Oh, no!”

“Why not?” asked Al.

“Because it’s fired; that is, after having been painted, the dog was placed in a furnace and heated so as to melt the coloring matter, which had been mixed with other ingredients, so that it flowed on the surface, and cooled hard like glass.”

[Illustration:  MAJOLICA PLATE FROM CASTELLANI COLLECTION.]

“Are the colors like those I have in my paint-box?” asked Willie.

“No.  They put the color on, worked up with what is called a flux, and the mixture has the appearance of thin mud, showing no color at all; the different tints are seen only after ‘firing.’”

[Illustration:  ENGLISH PUG IN PORCELAIN.]

“How can they tell what it’s going to look like, if they don’t see the color?”

“That is one of the nice points of the ‘ceramic art,’ and much skill and fine imagination are required to produce some of the wonderful combinations of color seen upon Italian majolica.”

“Why do they call it majolica?” asked Al.