Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1909-10-29
D. ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE

Didn't Know When He Was Beaten e
~
A curious crowd gathered outside
a little house in the French town of
Saintes one day in the middle of the
sixteenth century. In the throng a
woman was weeping and wringing her
hands, stopping now and again to
stare through the open doorway of the
dwelling.
He is mad! Quite mad" she
walled. ITO feed that miserable fur
mace, what do you think ne has done?
He has spent every penny of our saw
ings and has sold the clothes off his
back to buy fuel We are starving,
yet he pays no heed to my protests.
He has ripped the palings from our
fence, our door from it's hinges, the
boards from our floors. He has broken
up every stick of our furniture. And
all for what use? To feed his furnace,
that it may attain a greater heat and
that his wretched bits of pottery may
be glazed"
And as the potter's wife resumed
her wailing march the neighbors muir
INJURED their sympathy and amaZement.
Meantime, within the house, a hollow
eyed, emaciated man was crouched
before a roaring furnace, into which
ne had just hurled the last combus-
tible fragment of his household
goods.
This man whom his wife and neigh
bors declared mad was Bernard Pals
sy, son of a French glass painter. He
had followed his fathers trade COM
fortably enough in Saintes, where he
had settled down and married. But
one day he CHANGED upon an old earth
anware cup of Moorish make.
He noted that it was covered with
a glazed or enameled substance that
gave it rare beauty. He made in
quiries, but could
Undaunted by not learn the Sc
inree Hunoreo cret process where
rallures' by the Moors had
produced this enamel. Then he began
experimenting. 1t was quickly proven
to the satisfaction of his fellow-work
ers that he was on the wrong track
and that the art of enamelling could
not be rediscovered by any OF the
methods he employed. But Palsy
alone could not realize that he was
beaten. He figured out that soon or
late he must come upon the correct
chemical mixture to produce the
white enamel he sought. He was ut
terly ignorant of the materials which
go to make up such enamel, yet for
years he labored on the problem, ma
king no fewer than 300 mixtures, all
of which turned out to be wrong.
At last he concocted one final
formula, resolving that if it failed he
would abandon the quest which had
already impoverished him and return
to his old trade of glass painting.
With despair in his heart Palsy
placed in the furnace the pieces of
pottery he had prepared After four
hours he drew them out. They were
coated with the beautiful white en-
amel he had so long and vainly striv-
en- to find. His discovery was made.
Now all that remained was to per
feet it.
Four more years were thus con-
sumed. Every stick of furniture,
every wooden house-fXture went to
the experimenting of his furnace. He
sold his clothes, starved his family,
grew thin as a skeleton. But in the
end success came!
Designing colored plates and
placuues and coating them with his
wonderful enamel, Palsy opened
shop in Paris. Sixteen years he had
labored to complete his invention,
and now tardy triumph crowned it.
His work became the rage at court.
Catherine de Medici, the queen-moth-
er, and Henri ILL.,, the king, declared
themselves his patrons.
His wealth and fame waxed as
great as had been his poverty and
reputation for insanity. The world OF
victory was in his grasp-and he let
it go!
The Protestant religion, despite all
efforts of a Catholic king, was sweep
ing France Palsy, though he well
knew that such an
imprisonment the act would wreck
Reward OF SerV- his court favor, be-
ice. came an open con-
vert to the new creed. He not only
declared himself a Protestant, but
also, to the surprise of every one,
studied philosophy and natural his
tory, excelling even the most learned
men of France on both subjects, and,
incidentally, winning in this way new
enemies.
All this combined to undermine his
standing at court. Henri III. was re-
luctantly coerced into signing war
rant committing him to the state prls'
on of Paris. the Bastile. There, in his
cell, the king secretly visited Palsy,
begging him to recant Professionalism
and promising him freedom.
81 pity you" added the king, but as
long as you are hereto | am COM
PEELED to consent to your imprison-
ment-"
1T is your majesty who deserves
pity, not l." retorted Palsy "You
say you are compelled You are less
a king, then, than l; for no man can
compel ME! All the power of France
cannot compel this one potter to
bow down to clay images!"
The king, too weak to save his old
friend, permitted him to be condemned
to death; but, in 1889, before the SCH
tence could be executed, Palsy died
in prison. He was 70 at the time O;
his death. Nearly so years he had
| labored in poverty. Then, when glory
and worldly wealth at last were at his
feet, he deliberately threw both away
for the sake of principle.
fCopvrighted)