Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-09-19
DOLLY'S PEDIGREE.
BY CLYDE.

but the Chinese knew how to make por-
celain. They were very careful not toilet
the secret go out of their own land, and
would not export their choicest wares,
lest some one should discover how they
were made. Even the Japanese, their
nearest neighbors, did not gain the art
for many years.
All the world admired the beautiful cups,
vases and dishes which came from China,
and called them China-ware. Some evil
minded persons used to suspect that these
dainty white wares were made of human
bones which was of course very false,
for porcelain is made from kind of por-
celain clay. This clay is very pure, and
is obtained by the decomposition of field
spar granite rocks. The Chinese called
this clay kaolin.
1t was wonderful, the perfection which
the Chinese attained in making porcelain.
The ancient and celebrated egg shell
wares were especially delicate and beauti-
full. Egg-shell cups, jars, vases, at one
time, were made as thin as bamboo paper,
and almost transparent Some were left
pure white, others tinged dainty cream
color, and others were painted delicate
blue. The favorite shade of the Chinese
in blue was called, "blue as the sky after
shower" The most expensive ware
was CdIlCu CTUCdNC
ses, of this crackle, would be covered
with a network of tiny cracks, produced
by sudden chilling in the baking.
These vases would afterward be dipped
in colored glaze. perhaps ruby red,
which, settling in the cracks, gave them
lovely appearance.
The Chinese artists take great pains in
decorating these porcelain wares, and as
each artist has his specially, it often re-
quires several to paint a single cup. One
paints the flowers, another the birds, a
third paints the landscapes, and fourth
traces the human figures.
Sometimes they arrange these pictures
cunningly between layers of porcelain, the
outer layer being ground very thin. In this
case, the picture does not show at all un-
til the vase is filled with some colored
LIQUID, which, by giving it dark back
ground, reveals it as if by magic. There
were 5000 furnaces at one time in King
te-chin, and, as may be imagined, they
manufactured great deal of porcelain.
Indeed, so important has this manufac-
ture become, that, whenever baking of
porcelain is finished, day is set apart for
thanksgiving and rejoicing.
Porcelain became so plentiful in China,
that a tower was built of porcelain tiles,
near Nankin. This tower was nine sto-
ries high, and each story was furnished
with gallery, cornice and roof of green
tiles, while at every corner were hung
bells, so light as to be easily moved by the
wind. 1t must have been grand to have
heard those bells in a storm. This tower
was once considered the eighth wonder
of the world; but these bells rung to-
gether for the last time in 1856, when the
tower was blown down in storm.
The Chinese could not keep their secret
always; and it was first discovered by
the Japanese, who were careful not to let
it 90 out of their own island.
A French monk, travelling in China in
1712, caught some glimpses of the mystic
nv, and he sent all the information he
could gain to a friend of his in France,
named Reaumur. These hints, together
with some specimens of choice China
ware which the monk had sent him, ena-
bled Reaumur to make a kind of soft por-
celain, which resembles glass, and will
melt at high heat. Boettcher, poor
German apothecary, first discovered the
art of making true porcelain In the year
| 1909. The elector, Frederic Augustus,
was so pleased with his discovery that he
founded a porcelain mandatory, and
placed Boettcher at the head of 1t. Boett-
cher's discovery soon spread over Eu-
rope, and now the porcelain of Dresden,
that of Sevres in France and Worcester
in England. are far superior to anything
China has produced. There is more taste
displayed in the form greater beauty and
variety of colors and the painting is such
as the Chinese artists are in no capacity
to rival.
Wedgewood, an Englishman who lived
| in the last century, was very successful
in manufacturing beautiful cream color
ed wares. He asked permission of Queen
| Charlotte to call his wares queens todTes,
which was granted, and since that time,
the term queen's-ware has been applied
to many other varieties.
| I suppose Sheda, and many other
little girls, would like to know just
how their dolls are made. Your
doll Lucy, Sheda, was once part
of a granite rock that rested and
grew mossy on a rugged mountain-side.
II is romantic, the way Lucy, like an
Ariel. was set free from this rock and de
scended to the earth.
One summers day, some frolicksomt
clouds fell in shower of rain on the bale
old mountain. Now this rain washed
away many atoms from the granite rocks
and carried them down into stone basins
The rain drops were allowed to escape
from the basins, but the atoms of granite
remained. These atoms hardened to
gether in the sun, then were cut out II
blocks, and were carried to porcelain
mandatory. At this mandatory TIT
blocks are ground into fine white powder
something like flour. The flour is tneI
put into great cistern, and mixed witt
powdered quartz, feidspar and water
This mixture, when taken from the CTS
tern, is put into linen bags, and the wale
pressed out until it is left about the con
sistency of dough. The porcelain dougl
then underroes a process of kneading
beating and treading, and it is at last lail
away for a year to give it still more plas
ticity. At the end of the year the dougl
is made up, not into loaves of bread, bu
into various shaped dishes, vases and fig