oned they were and how their twisted branches were
covered with glass flowers in the center of which candles could be set.
But the English chandeliers were far more massive affairs than those.
And no sooner did English workmen find what they could do with this new
material than they went mad over glass-making. Why, in 1851 they
actually built for the first International Exhibit a Crystal Palace
with a big glass fountain in it. Its builder was James Paxton, and he
was knighted for doing it."

"I should think he deserved to be!" Jean said. "Who ever would have
thought of making a palace of glass!"

"This one attracted much attention, I assure you," said Uncle Bob.
"Later it was reconstructed at Sydenham and to this day there it
stands. England now makes the finest crystal glass of any country in
the world; but to-morrow I intend to take you to the British Museum and
show you that in spite of all that European nations have done there
were other very skilful glass-makers in the world before any of them
made glass at all."

"Before the time of the Greeks and Romans--before the people who made
the Naples Vase?" Jean asked.

"Yes, centuries before."

"Who were they?" demanded both Jean and Giusippe in the same breath.

"The Egyptians first; and after them the Phoenicians and Syrians. All
these peoples lived where they could easily get plenty of the fine
white sand necessary for glass-making. In some of the old tombs glass
beads, cups, drinking-vessels, and curiously shaped vials have been
found, many of them very beautiful in color. Some of this color is due
to the action of the soil and the atmosphere, for science tells us that
after glass has been buried in the earth many centuries and is then
exposed to the air it begins to decay and its color often changes. We
have in our museums many pieces of ancient glass which have changed
color in this way and have become far more beautiful than they
originally were. How these races that lived in the remote ages found
out how to make glass no one knows; but certain it is that the
Egyptians could fashion imitation gems, crude mosaics and various glass
vessels. Later the Phoenicians improved the art and afterward, as you
have seen, the Greeks and Romans took it up. There is a strange tale of
how, during the reign of Tiberius, a glass-maker discovered how to make
a kind of glass which would not break. It was a sort of malleable
glass."

"Oh, tell us about it, please, Uncle Bob."