The Prescott daily news., 1908-11-10
TheSpectrun1
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By Richard B. Shelton


 Probably a third of the people of the civilized world know of the exist ence of the great glass company, one of the wealthiest of corporations, and at least a third more have seen in shop windows in all parts of the globe glassware of every description, clear as crystal or most perfectly col ored, and annealed by a wonderful process, which renders it so tough that an ordinary blow has no effect upon it.
 It is the Allglass Company which has revolutionized the art, and which came into existence through a strange chance.
 For years glassware had been John Temples hobby. His house was filled with the choicest gleanings of many lands His uncle, whose name he bore, had left him enough of a for tune to devote his time to such things. and he followed his bent with zeal sufficiently below mania to be termed genuine enthusiasm. During his days of collecting, two points were brought forcibly to his attention. He could procure glasses of the most beautiful ttnts but at a price which made them beyond the reach of people in ordinary circumstances. Again, when he had procured a treasure, it must be kept in case or handled with care lest some chance slip might prove it's destruction.
 To overcome these two things-to make glass of perfect coloring and at the same time one which would be tough enough to be scrviceable-Tem- pie bent all his energies. That 1t could be done he was positive, but ten good years of his life, spent for the most part in an ill-smelling laboratory, net ted but scant results. He had, how ever, made some advancement, and his determination to accomplish his end was no whit lessened.
 One afternoon in March, after weeks of disheartening work, he had discov- cred a process by which perfect amber tints could be obtained at nominal sum. It was three o'clock when he finished work and locked the labora- tory. It was Temples custom after hours of concentration to walk down town, pausing now and then to peer into shop windows, that the trifing interest he found there might relieve the strain of the preceding hours.
 It was a windy afternoon and heavy clouds hung the sky He walked briskly, for the air was chilly and it ~-as not until he was we'll down town that he paused before the windows of secondhand boohshop. Within was miscellaneous collection of books in q more or less battered condtion-vol- rmes of encyclopedias, Dickens, Thackeray and teXtbooks-and, strewn about paper-covered novels with sug- gestive titles and more suggestive sub-titles. In the center of the win dow was a huge family Bible, opened, the text of Matthew on the right-hand page, and on the left blank page of the Family Record
 As he stood there, the sun broke through the clouds A moment later he was staring through the window with wondering eyes, On the page of the Family Record indistinct at the beginning, but growing clearer as he read down the page, were these words, written in cramped, but painstaking hand:
 this method of annealing gives a toughness which will resist any ordinary shock. It is, moreover, if practiced on a large scale. cheaper than any known method, and for
 The remaining words were quite illegi- ble. The rest of the page was seem. ingly a blank. He read and re-read the words and then rushed into the shop.
 Let me see the Bible in the win. dow" he said to the clerk, with as much nonchalance as he could mus. ter.
 When the book was handed to him Temple turned at once to the last page of the Family Record" It waa perfectly blank. He scanned the pre- ceding pages and searched through those headed Marriages" and Births" He found merely few con. ventional entries in faded ink. over. work, he thought to himself, as he went up the street, yet when he re, membered every detail of the writing the explanation was far from satistac t0ry