Morning journal and courier., 1891-02-28


whole sweep of the known past everything
of true beauty that had been revealed to
the potter. With marvellous rapidity of
conception, development, application and
adaptability, he not only recovered and re-
created what seemed irreplsceable, but es-
tablished 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 incompatible creations.
More wonderful than his own work, taste
kept abreast of his exquisite revelations.
Nearly century has elapsed since he died
here at the Etruria he built. To be exact,
it ie just ninety-six years. But in all this
interim OF progress no added precious Sc
cret in ceramics has been disclosed 1t al
most seems that this was the one man pre-
destined to come and throw open wide the
door upon their 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. Wedgwood
is buried in the modest church-yard over
there at Stoke. There is no cenotsph or
column above his grave, but his monu-
ment is in every refined home throughout
the world. 1t is also in the complete re-
naissance of one of the most useful, en-
during and lovely of all the arts. 1t is
visibly and practically here in Stafford
shire in this great cluster of pottery towns
and cities, housing fully two hundred
thousand people; and, in the outlying vii
lagos, and through the vast outreaches and
| interchanges of the Staffordshire pottery
trade, which alone supports more than
half million souls. And best of all, to
us, it is in the reduplication in our Ameri-
can cities of these great establishments,
| where our own labor and our own capital
are gradually acquiring such skill and re-
| wards that, before a new century shall
come, the deserving fame of our own ce-
ramic art shall vie with that of any land.
But there is other interest in the potter
les than that connected with their marcan-
tile facts and figures; with their extraor-
| dinary art development, compelling the
| employment of the most noted and skill
| full decorative artists in Europe; or even
with these bewildering show-rooms of
tiles, vases, plaques, candelabrs, state ia
BILE services, chimney pieces, multifarious
ecclesiastic decorations, Etruscan embel-
| lishments, enamels, cabinet settings, piatti
di pompa, Samos bowls, seals, reliefs, me-
dallions, canoes and intaglios without end
in variety and number. This is in the
everyday life, habits, aspirations, charac-
| ter and amusements of the potters them
| selves.
1 believe not a kindlier, more comforta-
BILE or contented, folk live than these
Staffordshire potters. There are economic
reasons for this which American manufac-
turers could study with profit. That
| cursed piracy upon labor, the ''truck sys-
tem," is unknown here. While rivalry
| been manufacturers is of the keenest un-
4 varying provision is made against periods
| of depression; so that at all times there is
unbroken sustentation of labor If slight
reduction is ever necessary it is only in the
Il
the "piece," are never reduced. Every
penny due every man is paid him each
| Saturday noon. The result is workmen
are sure of certain income. This Just and
humane treatment makes good citizens
| and comfortable homes anywhere. But
the universal good nature of the Stafford
shire potters is attributed by themselves
to curious hereditary belief. working
in EARTH" they say, makes men ''easy-
minded"
There are preserved many sunny pic
lures of the master -potter's home in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
The genial autocrat of pitchers, jugs and
porringers of that time, whose workmen
lived in thatched novels not fit for swine.
| were each supposed to exist in an ample
matched and timbered dwelling with deep
caves and loaded easements, built against,
| or around, the pot-work itself. You en-
tered either from the street or the garden
a roomy houseplsce or kitchen. In ga
BILE next the pot-work was a capacious
chimney-place, and opposite this was the
parlor. The houseplace had its ponderous
settle, its leather-covered easy-chair, a
shelved dresser, clock and tables Behind
the dresser the crateman's scores were
chalked; and on the dresser shelves were
displayed the masterpieces of the potter's
art of that time. Snug and comfortable
as all this was, you can find ten thousand
homes of potter workmen, within a FIVE.
mile radius of Henley, where the poorest
potter of the district lives as snugly as his
master predecessor. His cottage is of
brick. 1t has two stories and the blessing
of perfect drainage. On the ground-f floor
are parlor with pretty fireplace, q
large living room provided with q huge
CRATE, hobs and Jockey bar for swinging
pots and kettles; and behind this is a scul.
lery, with q fine little garden at the rear.
The upper floor comprises two large sleep
ing rooms. This gives every potter family
here q fve-roomed, completely detached
house and garden. Ordinary workmer
earn the year round from twenty-five Il
thirty shillings weekly. If there happen
to be daughters, one may be "'paintress,
coloring the cheaper wares and earning
eight shillings, and perhaps another ;
''burnisher" earning six shillings per week
Many families thus secure thirty-five t,
: forty shillings per week; while the pot
ter's rent and rates do not exceed twent,
! Many of these homes have area flower
plats. In the gardens of all are mazes O
, flowers and vines in summer. Every pot
| ter's parlor must have its solemn-voiceS
! "grandfather's clock" i. also boast
I chests of linen, drawers of comfortabl
clothing, and many cheap and prett,
I pieces of furniture; while on the mante
g or bureau-top is always found some fanci
g full sketch, painting or curious model per
| tanning to the potter's vocation; the resul
of emulation to win prizes for invention
3 in new processes, or for unique and origi
Q nal designs in modelling and decoration
> The potter's daily routine is an unevent
1 full one At two o'clock in the morning h
e leaves home, Tommy or "snap'n" (hi
t breakfast, dinner or both) in red ootto
q handkerchief in one hand, and in the 9th
er his ''can'' of coffee, which he heats o
Q the ''pot" that is used in drying the war
q before burning He works little or much
: at will, from the opening of the potter
: gates at six in the morning until the sam
9 hour in the evening, when he return
g home to tea. This meal consists of bread
:, butter and tea, with any handy trifie lei
It over from the home meals of the day; bu
J, always includes, in season, cress, radishe
/, or onions from his little garden. HI
l. work is endlessly hot and dusty, and b
|, ''hungers for green things" ever. Afte
y his evening meal he is found, until beC
l. time, at the public house, or with group
of his fellows at the street corners, or
II the market-place, grinning at mount,
d banks or unctuously joining in the service
;, of the "Salvationists." If devout-an
a however much these men frequent IL
d "pubs," they are nearly all enthusiast
s. Wesleyans-on Sundays they are found
+ prayer meeting before breakfast, at Sun
IS day-school again in the afternoon, and
n service at six in the evening. Betwee
rs four and six, on summer Sunday afte
m moons, with their families they will nun
N Der round one hundred thousand, strol
ss ing along the clayey roads and lanes.
ut Their dialect, somewhat similar TO tn
I'd of the lowly of Cheshire. is worthy of
r lustrstion. An old lady, impatient
to what she conceived to be my "oopstar
Il bookish ways in arriving at exact info
n matien, remarked to me with some sho
" of spirit: ''Theigh thenkst theyt sun
g. buddy, with theight dicsonary nonsens
10 But Oh thenkst theight regular feu to
as fooDr' -,
at A potter will greet a fellow witt
e. ssWell, Tum (Tom), lad, has dewf' "Hi
of dew" is the invariable answer. Er