England went steadily forward with its china-making.
Earthenware of various kinds covered with salt glaze were made at
Fulham, Stoke-on-Trent, and Staffordshire. It was about 1750 that the
second of the great potters made his advent."

"Ah!" cried Theo, "now we are going to hear who he was!"

Mr. Croyden paused a moment as if thinking just how he should best
tell the story. Then he began:

"The name of this second pottery-maker to whom the world owes a mighty
debt was Josiah Wedgwood. He was a man who came naturally by his skill
at pottery-making, for, not only was he himself a potter, but he also
had several ancestors who had followed the trade. He was a
conscientious workman of limited education, but a person to whom a
thorough, careful piece of work, done as well as it was possible to do
it, was a satisfaction and delight. Remember that fact, for it had
much to do with Wedgwood's subsequent success. He also loved beauty
of form, and probably had he been able to choose he would have turned
his entire attention to making a classic type of pottery. But being
one of thirteen children he was poor, and his common sense told him
that there were far more necessary things to be done in the world than
to give all one's time to articles that were not useful. So he put his
dream behind him, like the practical fellow he was, and looked about
to see what his contemporaries needed, and what he could do to aid his
generation."

"I should think that if he could have made some dishes it would have
helped as much as anything," asserted Theo emphatically.

"That was precisely what he decided," answered
Mr. Croyden. "Accordingly he went to work to apply his knowledge of
pottery to the improvement of English earthenware. First he made a
kind of cream-white pottery which he dubbed Queen's Ware in honor of
Queen Charlotte; and which in spite of the fact that it boasted no
decoration, became very popular in England because of its moderate
price. From this simple beginning Wedgwood got money to experiment
further, and work out other varieties of china. In 1773 he began his
famous dinner-set for Empress Catherine II of Russia, which had upon
it over twelve hundred enameled views of English estates, and for
which she paid three thousand pounds. For two months before this set
was packed and sent away it was on exhibition in London, where it was
the marvel of every one who saw it."

"I'd like to have seen it!" interjected Theo.

"And I