nto a multitude of small pieces from which the glass could
be cut and the lead lines decided upon. All this done I went to work
planning my color scheme--thinking out what dominating colors I would
use and where I would place my high lights."

"And then you were ready for your glass?" inquired Mr. Cabot.

"Yes. Now selecting the glass is not alone a matter of color; it is
also a problem of thickness. Sometimes a variation in tone can be
obtained merely by using a bit of heavier glass in some one spot. Again
the effect must be obtained by the use of paint."

"What kind of glass do you use, Mr. Norcross?" Giusippe questioned.

"What we call bottle, or Norman, glass. We get it from England, and
strangely enough there is a heavy duty on it in its raw state. One can
import a whole window free of duty because it is listed as an art work;
but the glass out of which an art work is to be constructed costs a
very high price. Odd, isn't it? As soon as I reach the point of using
glass I arrange it on a large plate glass easel, using wax in the
spaces where the lead is to go. Then I experiment and experiment with
my colors. You probably know that in making modern stained glass a
great deal of paint is used in order to get shading and degrees of
color. It was toward the end of the thirteenth century that the old
glass-makers began to introduce the use of paint into their windows.
First came the grisaille glass, as it was called, where instead of
strong reds and blues most of the window was in white painted with
scroll work in which a few bits of brilliant stained glass were set
like jewels. Then with the fourteenth century came those elaborate
painted canopies and borders within which were the main figures of the
window in stained glass. From that time on the combination of stained
and painted glass was used. Accordingly we all work by that method now.
So, as I say, I paint in my glass and afterward it has to be fired, all
the small pieces being laid out on heavy sheets of steel covered with
plaster of paris."

"Do your colors always come out as you mean to have them?" inquired
Giusippe, his eyes on the artist's face.

Mr. Norcross shrugged his shoulders.

"You know, don't you, how the firing often changes the tone, and how
you frequently get a color you neither intended nor desired. That is
one of the tribulations of stained glass making. Another is when the
cutters must trim down the glass and put the lead in place. You may