ed a second, and then remarked suggestively:

"And Palissy?"

"Palissy? Oh, he was another matter altogether. What did you learn
about him when you were at school?"

"Not much, I'm afraid," responded Theo with a shrug. "At least I do
not remember much of it now. The teacher told us that one day Palissy
saw an enameled cup of Saracen workmanship and that he was so anxious
to discover how the glaze on it was made that he worked years
experimenting; he even chopped up all his furniture as fuel for his
furnaces."

"This is quite correct," smiled Mr. Croyden. "I see you recall a good
deal. What you have told me are the main facts of the story. Palissy
did work fifteen years. He used every splinter of wood he could lay
hands on as fuel, and indeed burned up every particle of his household
furniture, until he had not a chair to sit upon. He spent every cent
he had, too, until he was so poor that he could scarcely feed his
family, and owed money to all his neighbors."

"In the end did he find out how to make the enamel?" came breathlessly
from Theo.

"No, not that particular kind of enamel the Moors made in Spain. That
is the sad part of the story," replied Mr. Croyden. "He did, however,
find out by his experimenting how to get marvelous colored enamels of
another kind, and this was a very important discovery. He colored his
glazes before putting them over the clay, instead of using a white
enamel and then painting it as had previously been done everywhere. So
you see after all Palissy did a great deal for pottery-making, since
up to this time no one had ever thought of coloring the glaze
itself. He made many vases, platters, and covered dishes adorned with
designs in this colored enamel, often putting on the cover of a dish a
fruit or vegetable in relief, tinted in its natural colors. Much of
this work now can be seen in the museums of France; but it never
became a distinctive type of art. What we chiefly remember of Palissy
is his introduction into china-making of these hitherto unknown
colored enamels."

[Illustration: BURNED HIS CHAIRS "HE USED EVERY SPLINTER OF WOOD"]

"What became of him?" inquired Theo at last. "Did he ever get any
more money?"

"He had a strange life," mused Mr. Croyden. "He was a Huguenot, and
at that time the Catholic party was in power, and an edict went forth
that all Huguenots should be killed. Many of them fled into other
countries and thus escaped death. But Palissy refused to flee, a