Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-03-09
svas Of o2EMGBAGIRI.


who lived in a house made of mud.
She ate off mud plates, and drank out
hung mud bfscketg With mud
figures on. them. The flowers from
her garden she put into mud vases,
ard the Garden itself was ornamented
with mud figures. The greatest treas
ures she bad in the world were made OF
mddr
Don't waste your pity or the unfor-
tunate child: ] dare say it's just the
same with you.
Horried!-did you say? Well, it
does sound rather bad, don't it? But
You know all kinds of mud are not
alike, though they're all made of earth
and water.
The mud OF which houses are made
is a coarse earth called clay, and it Is
pressed square in moulds, baked, and
called brick.
The mud you eat and drink from is
made of finer clay, and it is made in
the shape of cups and plates, ornament
ed and baked, and we call it china
not so very bad, you see, after all.
Mud brackets you call terra Gotta,
a d mud figures you call china or
bisque.
b. this time I suppose you can guess
that the girl / spoke of had bisque
doll and set of china among her treas
ures. The dreadful thing had to tell
you Is that your bisque doll is made of
mud, is own cousin to the old brown
vinegar Jug down in the pantry, as well
as to the coarse red bricks on the gar
den walkl
You didn't know she had such com
mon relations? Well, let me tell you
privately she's no worse for that
1t isn't what her cousins are, but what
she Is, that's the important thing.
The reason she's so different from
her coarse cousins is because she is
made of the finest materials, and with
the greatest pains.
l want to tell you Just how she Is
made, and your china cups too. You
won't feel so sorry to hear that they are
also her cousins.
70 begin with, the clay is found
mixed with. stones, and they are broken
in pieces and put where water will run
over them The running water washes
out the clay, and carries it off, falling
at last into pond,
The water now being still, the clay
settles on the bottom, as you've seen in
muddy water in u tumbler. After n
while the water is drawn ont of the
pond, the clay dug mp in blocks, and
laid on shelves to dry.
You don't like the idea that your doll
is made of mud; but if you could see it
you wouldn't care much, for it's very
nice mud, and when dry is white and
hard.
The next thing is to grind it to pow
der, ana then 1t goes to the potters.
These workmen mix it with water TILL
about as thick as cream, and then
strain it through fine sieves. 1t is now
called "slip," and is ready for a new
ingredient, which is flint. You've
heard of things being as "hard as a
flint" and hard enough the poor pot
ters found it, till they learned to burn
it before trying to grind it.
They can't make cups ont of ''slip,"
so it has to be evaporated till about as
bread dough Cf you know how thick
that Isl, and then 1t is kneaded as if it
really was bread dough. It's droll
kneadipg, though, done by big, dirty
looking men, sometimes even with
their feet, and the object OF it all is to
get out the bubbles.
After this curious performance 1t
ought to rest long time. The Chinese
let it lie twenty years IN u damp cellar.
dare say your china cups could tell
wonderful stories of life in France,
and what they saw while they lay sea-
soning in some potter's cellar-that is,
if they could talk.
There are three ways of getting it
into sbape-throwing, pressing and
casting You don't see bow it can be
thrown into shape, but you d understand
in minute if you could see a potter's
wheel. The potter's wheel is a s rt of
lathe, on which the damp clay is put,
and turns round and round. The pot
ter sits before it, and with his hands
shapes cup, or plate, or jug in a
few minutes.
Pressing, told you, was another
way of shaping things. This is done,
of course, by moulds. Handles of cups
and all small ornaments are made in
moulds, and stuck on the cup or other
dish while damp; and then comes the
baking.
Did You know yo1r doh had been
baked? L guess you'd think 1t was
baked if you could see the oven where
she spent whole days. It's the funnit st
oven you ever saw, dome-shaped on
top, and big enough for dozen peo-
pie to go in. When they get ready to
bake they don't Just cover the bottom
of the oven, as cooks do-by no meansl
They stuff it full TO the very roof
Piles and piles of plates and cups and
saucers and all sorts of dishes, each
one standing on some sort of little feet
SO it won't stick to its neighbor when
hot.
When you would think the o7en-or
kiln, they call twas full, a man
stands at the door and puts in piece
after piece, till there isn't room for an
other CUP. Then the door is bricked
IN. fires are made under the kiln, and
Kent up several days and nights. More
deys are allowed for 1t TO get cool, and
not until every thing is cool enough 10
handle is the door opened and the bak-
ing done.
Fot this first baking your doll went
TO have her hair and eyes and lips
painted before a second baking made
her into blsque; but the china cups are
not so near done.
You see these are very smooth, and
look as if polished, while the doll has
no SHINE at all on her face. This is
doJo 10y glazing.
\ man stands by tub of glazing
fluid, and dips in every dish, careful |
to touch as small place as possible |
with his fingers.
Then comes another baking, Ind I
After that any painting that it is to
have. The coloring is done with |
brushes, like anv painting. and then it |
poes-to the oveu again.
You hope it's hnked enough Well. |
Il is now.
When yor are older you must read