ces in Europe where glazed pottery was
first made. About the twelfth century, some Moorish potters had settled
there and carried their art with them."

"Did you ever see any of the old Italian majolica, uncle?" asked Al.

"Yes; in the splendid Castellani collection there are some of the very
best specimens of the finest majolica ever made,--that produced in the
fifteenth century by Giorgio Andreoli of Gubbio, and others who
followed him."

"Where is Gubbio?" asked Al.

"In Italy."

"Is the Castellani collection in Italy?"

"No, it's at the Metropolitan Museum, too; but only on loan at present,
though an effort is being made to purchase and keep it in this country
forever. I hope it will be successful, for it is a grand collection.
But I must tell you that when the French came to manufacture majolica,
most of which by that time was made in the little Italian town of
Faenza, they called the ware _faience_, after it. This name is applied
to most soft paste glazed pottery, while majolica is a ware that has a
peculiar luster, and in different lights displays all the colors of the
rainbow. Much ordinary glazed, unlustered pottery is incorrectly called
majolica, however."

"How do they make the luster, uncle?"

"By coating the ware with certain metallic oxides, which, at the last
of the many necessary firings, diffuses a glaze over the surface."

"You said the painting was one of the 'nice points of the ceramic art,'
uncle. What does 'ceramic' mean?" asked Willie.

"It is sometimes spelled K-e-r-a-m-i-c, _keramic_, and comes from the
Greek word _cheramos_, signifying 'potters' clay,' and hence, in a
general sense, pottery of every kind and methods of producing it."

Here Matie, who had been hugging her little pug for some time, began to
grow very sleepy, so Uncle Jack dismissed the children with a
"good-night" all around.

The door closed softly, and the little ones ran off to their beds,
while Uncle Jack leaned back in his easy chair in a pleasant reverie,
which we will leave him to enjoy.

POEMS BY TWO LITTLE AMERICAN GIRLS.

[ELAINE AND DORA READ GOODALE, the two sisters some of whose poems are
here given for the benefit of the readers of ST. NICHOLAS, are children
of thirteen and ten years of age.

Their home, where their infancy and childhood have been passed, is on a
large and isolated farm, lying upon the broad slopes of the beautiful
Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts, and is quaintly c