music where all could go to concerts; and a
savings-bank in which earnings could be deposited. What do you think
of that for progressiveness?"

The boy's eyes opened wide.

"I guess we're not so civilized as we think we are," he remarked
soberly.

"We are not the only people who ever lived--that's sure!" retorted the
Trenton man grimly. "As you can well imagine, the men under the
Ginori were very appreciative, and as a mark of their gratitude for
all this kindness they set to work and made for the Ginori chapel
beautiful porcelain monuments as a tribute to the dead and gone Ginori
nobles. They also made a marvelous high altar all of porcelain, with
magnificent candlesticks, fonts, and statues--a wonderful embodiment
of their skill as well as their devotion."

"It must have taken some clay!" exclaimed Theo.

"I guess it did," Mr. Croyden assented. "Aside from this work the
output of the Doccia fabrique was largely imitative. They made so many
copies of Sevres, Capo di Monte, and Majolica that it soon became a
great problem to tell the real from the imitation, and this has caused
collectors no end of trouble."

"Was no other porcelain made in Italy?"

"Yes, as far back as 1515 pottery, as I told you, was made in Venice;
and with the discovery of kaolin Venetian merchants imported the true
clay which did not exist in Italy, and manufactured both hard and soft
paste. But the industry was never a success because the expense of
getting the material was so great. In 1753 the Germans, because of the
cheapness of Italian labor, tried making porcelain there, thinking
that they could furnish their own clays at slight cost. But the scheme
was a failure. There was, however, some imitative work done later by a
potter named Cozzi which was very good. But Italy has never excelled
in china-making as she did in the making of glass because she had not
the material to do any very extensive work. There has, to be sure,
been a scattering of porcelains turned out--some from Turin; some from
Treviso; and some from other cities. But aside from the Majolica
pottery, and Delia Robbia's terra-cottas, Italy has not made any
distinctive contribution to the china-making art. Still she has done
so much in almost every other art that she should rest content. One
cannot excel in everything."

"Some of us never excel in anything," laughed Theo.

"Some of us excel in falling off roofs and breaking our legs,"
chuckled Mr. Croyden teasingly. "A