The morning call., 1891-03-01
The People. of an Inland County
Near the: Center Of ENGLAND.
I7HAS MO GREAT PLACE IN HISTORY.
The 0It-Fa1tolst ovens out Of Which Game
The 7Tgs, PossetClls and Pots Of the
Roman Times W8dgW00d Coal and Clay
l.. The Place Where Josiah WadgFoQt Per
E. fectsi BarthsIWaT8 for The Table Origin
Of "Ql9HlSWaTa.2 '...:-

HENLEY England, Feb. 70, 1S91-Staf-
fordshire the principal seat of the English
polteries, is an inland county, lying near
the center Of England. Long. and narrow,
something like rhombus in form, it sepa-
rates the four midland counties OF Derby,
Leicester, Warwick and Worcestershire, on
ihe.east. from the two important western
shires of.Cheshire:and Shropshire. and eX-
tends north and'south, oue-dfth the length
of the kingdom: ~ ~ :..'.-.
It has 10 gieat.Placein history: The old
. monks We're not attracted to it as: a: region
in which TO build. Splendid abbeys. Anti
quarians have not found much in it to
wrangle over 1t. has. inspired little in TO.
-monce and song No one ever came TO tia
second timefor its beauty. Forbidding and
unfertfle Hills merge into fiat and m0nOto-
nous meadows. in the SOUTH. Aldng its mid
die reaches are tile c0al-pits.;. and the near
FORCES with. thedismal thunderingS. In the
north, even. less. cOmely than the. south,
begin the bleak, bare ELEVATIONS of BunSter
and AEeeyer, the true, English -maorlancS
whirh stretch, with varying height and
. drearfness north through the entire king
dom, Spreading into the. wild and desolate
mountain mo0Ts. Of Yorkshire, Durham and
Northumberland until lost amohg the mists
OF Scotland which sway and. sweep above
the m6urnful rYarrOw and mupnnrous
J. Tweed. 1t has a few commonplace streams a;
one little lake. measured lily yards, and one
river, tile Trent, the tlird.ln size ard extent
in England. though Unnavgable. which
spring from little AeWpOOl,. near Biddulph
at the edge of Cheshire, flows soatheaSteriy
through The entire shire, but with never a
glen to inYate legend, nor cascade to make
Two Gman roads, or military WAYS.
Watlin ~ rect and ltknied street, interSect:
Ing, cross the shire from eaSt 10 west II
you WilltTamp to the L6ngwynd Hll, over
IN Shropshire, you can. trace The trackWay
worn " hite and bare to the eternal stone
over witch ths Romans brought supplies OF
pottery, 1s00 years ago, from. the Severn
Valley and Stttterdshlre to: their military
stations south and southwest of. l rcOnlum.
Atleast the curious old books will bTaYelV;
tell you that is. how the huge, Dleached
furrOw YOU willsee was dug through the
gorse anu hare-bell s-of the wildand unloyely.
waste. Betterways than these now traverse
the shire. Canals CLEAN along valleys;
glistenab0ye viaducts and penetrate mount
aims, ma king sea ports OF every busy town:
and. with the railways they have cut old
Stafford iutOmcre curious patterns than u
grandam's 'bToken-dish":
=- Patchwork QUIT.
=
was not long ago.: But they assert in: Stat
fordshire TINT all these old forests were
telled and the whole shire formerly made:
bare, simply to IRE the Old-fashioned. ovens
Out Of these came the tygS, posset-cups and
VOts Of the Roman time, When huge, strong
mugs We're good enough for. drinking pur-
prseS, the Delft pitchers and. rerrnEers of
the Norman period, down to- even these
marvellous achievements. of the-ASelgY wood.
tine, when tire priceless: Barbereni, .oT p port;
Lar To- la 81 Il.
celled in fifty wordrOus copies. THEN
+ came the era of coal and clay in Stafford
silire, OF more properly speaking, of WedG-
wood, clay and coal. Somebody has com
puted that you could wafk on .croekery: over
all the area ofStaffOrds hire. whichcOmprises
about 10000 acres of land, if~alt that ever
went out Of tile shire could be Brought
back and set down. piece by piece
within it. But without one prmeYal
tree and with room :: for ,.':but..: few
p others save in. parks and demesnes:of. the
nobility and potter gentry StanorqshIre IS
still forest; in the south. and center a
mighty forest. Of chlmHeysi where coal ana
iron endlfsS.y burn and 'apd@pQllule-
tile land from flaming cayeTns at the. feet o T.
leVlathan tree-tFunks OF brick, from whose
tops overSpreading arms OILS MOI Sc -, 44r5el
and turn WiLh the wind, aId.the,blesSed sum
light rarely filters through their thick and
suphurGus pal-like foliage. In the north,
still forest OF. chimneNs in the pottery
AlSLIitt 81 t4SISt mere Mltll Tile great ONtIlS
at their feet, looking like. Innnstreus ten
pins of giants, that, standing in the toYer
OF the Old church at Henley, the metropolis
OF the puttrries, through the stacks Of Turn
stall, Burolem, Milton5 Bucknall, LOngtOn,
StOke-nn-I Trent, Hen ford Lane End, tPenk-
hull, Newcastle and Etrura: you. canuot
clearly define in half dozen tiny spots the
dreary horizon line: ':'-;. -; - ~ ,
This hideous tran formation, out of which
such vast utllitarlaR stores and:c0untless
ss.Fl No. + 1. Al.
WOTk Il little more than ac6ntUry. Pottery
WORK Of SO years ago can. be definitely
traced to. Burslem. The town: was. then
known as a butter pottery, that is alpottery
where pots for keeping butter were made.
Then, in 1880. along came two ingenious
new form of glaze, secured by superficial
ratification of the clay through the super
heated fumes Of common: salt; :. The Eters
also brought to Stafford the unglazed red
china method -: : - -: - -: =.
:; -.- FROM THE. EAST. =. II, +.
This was alivery wonderful for that time,
but by and by white ware made its appear
ance through an accidental d scovery. On a
journey to london one of the Burslem pot
tiers mad powdered. flint recommended by az
inn-hostleT for his horses diSOrdered eyes.
. To more easily ptlyerize It a flint stone was
thrown into the fire. The potter saw that
the fame changed it to a pure white.
Flint stones were gathered in the south
Of England sent. to Staffordshire in large
quantities, mixed with t0baccO-pipe clay,
and pure white. steneware was produced
The crushing and grinding mills for pulyer-
iZing flint, mixing it like -four with water
and serving 1t in paste of any desired con-
SiStency, were only matter of time. Then,
In lIh3, Josiah. Nedgwo0d perfected earth
.;enware for table-Whose first delicate
cream color is, so attractive to collectors
which SO pleased the Queen that she gave to
1t her name and patronage. The word
Queen was. stamped in all these dishes.
Hence ."QueenSware of that and the
present time. Following this came the
most brilliant career ever enjoyed by manu-
facturer. The story reads ike an Arabian
Nights tale. This one man Wedgwood. n OF
learned man from the collegiate standard,
cripple through a malignant disease in
youth, and not ona who had Inherited pres
5Lpe OF substance, seemed to possess the au-
daelOus originality Of all real genius, incon-
" eelVabe patience, and above all an
answering loyalty TO true art. With these
qualities he sO-wedded art to refined progress
and utility that there was recovered from
the whole sweep of the known past every
thing of true beauty that had been re-
Vealed to the potter. = With mar
vicious rapidity Of conception, develop
ment, application and adaptablity,~ he not
only. recovered and re-created what seemed
1rreplaceabEe,,. but established to endure
new standards in the nOblest ideals possible
to ceramic art. In word fifty centuries
of art effort were by his brain and hand
concentrated into fifty years of incompar-
able creations. More wonderful than his
own work, taste kept abreast of his exquis-
lite revelations. Nearly a century has elapsed
slnceh he died here at the Etruria he built,
To be exact it is just ninety-six years. But
IN all this interim of progress no added
precious secret in ceramics has been dis
closed, 1t almost seems that this was the
one man predestined;to come and throw open
wide the door upon the exquisite mysteries.
1t is no wonder that single pieces from his
hand are now worth the value Of kings
crown. = =
= BUT ALL THIS Is WELL KNOWN
: Wedgewood is buried in the modest church.
yard over there at Stoke. There is no cenO-
taph or column above his grave, but his
monument is in every refined home through.
cut the world. 1t Is also In the complete re-
naissance In one of the most useful, endur-
Ing and lovely of all the arts 1t Is yisibly
and practically here In Staffordshire in this
great cluster OF pottery towns and cities,
housing fully 100000 people; and, in the
outlying villages, and through the vast out
F1QQhps nd infar Of he