Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-29
ONCE AGAIN WE LEAD
COMING INTO POPULAR FAVOR
As q Decorative Material for Public Build
ings and Residences.
AFsW FACTS ABOUT GLASS IN GENERAL

the making Of large sheets Of glass waI
practically an impOssibility, and anything
larger than few inches in each of its di.
mensions was 50 very expensive as to confns
its use to the few wealthy persons who could
afford such a luxury. With the introduc-
ton of improved methods in the glass indus.
try, and the consequent cbeapening Of the
larger and finer sheets. the smaller pieces
were quickly relegated to the least preten-
tious Of buildings. such as factories and
cheap tenements, but Of late years there is
evidently q marked inclination to revert to
the use Of small panes Of glass as means
of producing decorative effect. So also the
old-time knuckled glass that was once so
much used because of the difficulty exper-
fenced in making glass that was perfectly
true and fiat, is now considered superior
product for many purposes Of decorative
art But It's in represent extensive use of
colored or stained glass that the revival Of
ideas which for many years have been
allowed to slumber will be the most readily
observed.
For a considerable time no material
found greater favor with architects, and dec
orators than did this description /of glass,
and then for quite lengthy period it was
suffered to fall into disuse, except for work
in churches and other public buildings.
COSTLY AND UNSATISFACTORY.
As regards the United States, the neglect
Of so valuable decorative material was
largely due to the fact that until quite re-
Gently but little of it was manufactured
here, and that which was brought from
abroad was very costly, and at the same
time in some respects unsatisfactory. There
was also the difficulty, serious one at all
times, but which in the construction
of any description Of art work
becomes appreciably greater, of having
to depend upon such q far-off source of sup
ply for material. But now all this is
changed, and instead of looking elsewhere
for supply of stained glass for our own
use, we are prepared to manufacture large
quantities of it for export, and this,
too, of very superior quality.
No better example could be cited
OF the success with which American energy
and enterprise can compete with all the bal
ance of the world, than is presented by the
rise and progress of this particular industry.
1t is practically but few years old in this
country, yet we are,able to compete with the
oldest Of European manufactures, and turn
out product IN some respects superior to
theirs.
1t isworthy of notice that upon the shoul-
ders of woman rested considerable share
Of the burden of bringing the excellence Of
American glass prominently before the pub
lie. For several years past we have been
producing very superior quality of glass,
and we have number Of clever artists ca
pable of executing designs Of correspond
ing degree of merit; among them Miss Mary
E. Tillinghast, of New York. Miss TilIing-
hast is an American woman who has
studied art abroad under the tuition,
among others, of Carolus Duran,
of Paris, with whom she remained
Tor number of years. Since her return to
the United States, Miss Tillinghast has be-
come famous for her work in designs for
stained glass, and has executed quite a num-
Der of very important works for such
people as Edward Field, son of Cyrus W.
Field, the Vanderbilts, Mrss D.. P. Morgan,
and fos many other equally wealthy people
as vel! as for a number of New York
churches and other public buildings. It is
not alone in New York, however, that her
work is known and appreciated; there are
examples of her designing to be seen in va
rious other places, among them Memorial
window which she not long ago executed for
st, Marks Church in Orange.
"A woMAN,s PATRIoTIsM.
1t was while at work upon the window
which she designed for Grace Church, New
York, that Miss Tillinghast made her bold
stand in asserting the superiority of Ameri-
can glass over the foreign product which
had until quite recently been used almost
exclusively for the finer and more important
works. The committee in charge of this
work accepted her design after some hesita-
tion, caused solely by the fact that its au-
thor was a woman, but had determined
upon using only English glass, to
which, however, Miss Tillinghast very
strenuously objected, as, in her opinion,
the American product was fully equal to
any that came from abroad. Being
of considerable determination. she
her position so stoutly that she
was eventually permitted to execute the
work according to her own ideas, and she
now has the satisfaction of having done
more, PERHAPS, than any other individual to
firmly establish an important American in
dustrv.
A complete history of glass manufacture
would fill Ferv large-sized volume, as it
has been CARRIED on for many hundreds of
years, and bYI various races Of people. 1t is
believed to have existed as early as 1000
years ago, and it is positively known to
have been an important product OF only few
centuries latef. Just who we're the original
inventors of glass is not positively known,
and the credit of its origin has been dis
puted by people of many different rationale
ties as being fairly due to their respective
countries Most persons are familiar with
the legion of the Phenician merchants who
landed on the coast OF Palestine,
and who chanced to melt sand and soda
together with the fire they used for cooking
their meals, and so discovered the art OF
making glass, but, although this account Of
the origin of glass rests upon the authority
OF Pliny and Flavius Josephus, it is prob
ably nothing more than an interesting story,
and, in any case, the manufacture of glass
in Egypt is known to be more ancient than
this pretty fable of the FhHnicians. It is
highly probable that glass is>
AN EGYPTIAN INVENTION;
at all events, the Oldest known specimens
come from that country, and the weight Of
evidence seems to bear out the assumption
that 1t had it's origin there.
In the earliest period of its manufacture,
the product of the glass works was essen
tally different from the perfectly trans
parent crystal with which we are familiar
at the present day. It was always colored,
for the good and sufficient reason that they
we're unable to make it clear, and for the
same reason it was generally dull and
opaque in place of transparent. 1t is
strange, too, considering the great utility of
glass products in modern times, that in the
the manufacture of glass was car
ried on for purposes ornamental rather than
useful, confined as it was to the production
Of small vases, beads and other such trihes.
The early glass workers readily learned to
make limitations Of other and more rare and
costly materials in glass, but they had no
more notion Of making sheet OF crystal