One day when he chanced to be sitting beside the invalid's couch Theo
said:
"You told me once that there were three famous potters in history, and
that Palissy was one of them; who were the others?"
"If I should tell you their names and nothing more about them it would
be only so much dry sawdust," was Mr. Croyden's reply. "The only
reason they were great was because of what they did; and that is a
long story."
"Too long to tell?"
"Too long to put in a nutshell."
"Wouldn't you have time to tell me some of it now?"
"I might have time to tell you about one of the men, but not both; and
even were I to tell you about one of them, in order to make you
understand how truly great he was I should have to tell you much that
happened before he began his pottery-making," answered Mr. Croyden
slowly.
"I shouldn't mind that at all," laughed Theo. "The longer your
stories are the better I like them."
Mr. Croyden smiled.
"Suppose, then, we begin," he said, "and I will try before luncheon to
introduce you to our second great potter. But before I do this we must
go back a little that you may recall exactly where we left off. While
Holland was turning out its Delft ware; Italy its glazed terra-cotta;
and France its Henri Deux and other enameled earthenwares, in the Low
Countries and the German States a new variety of pottery with a coarse
surface not unlike the porous skin of an orange was being made.
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