furnace, over that a tremendous oven,
where they put the dishes in to bake.

But they don't put them right in just as they are. Oh, no. There were on
the high shelves all around, a lot of things called _saggers_. They look
something like bandboxes made of firebrick. The soft dishes are put in
them, the lids are put on, and then they are piled up in the oven. Then
the men build a big fire in the furnace, and let it burn for several
days. When it goes out they let several more days go by for the kiln to
cool, and then take out the saggers. When the dishes are taken out they
are hard and rough and of a yellowish white. They build the fire after
they get them in, and let it out and the kiln cool off before they take
them out, because the men have to go in and out the big ovens.

Wouldn't you think a pile of soft plates and saucers would burn all
together and stick fast to each other? Well, they don't. There are little
things made of hard clay with three bars and three feet, and they put
them in between dishes so that one plate has one in it, and the next
plate sets on top of that, so that they can't stick together. Did you
ever see three little dark spots on the bottom of a saucer? This is what
makes them. There are lots and lots of these little stands lying all
around everywhere, and broken pieces of them and the clay, scattered like
flour all over the ground and floors thick.

We next went into the room back of the kilns. It had shelves all around,
too, and there were piles of dishes after the first burning. A lot of
women sat on stools on the floor and they were brushing the fire cracks
with some stuff out of little bottles. This was to fill them up so that
the glazing wouldn't run in.

[Illustration: REST FOR FLAT DISHES.]

We went into another room at one side of the first and there's where they
did the glazing. They called it _dipping_. There was a large tank in the
middle of the room with a deep red liquid in it. Papa asked the man what
it was, and he said it was a secret preparation. The men dipped the
dishes in, and they came out a beautiful pink, so pretty that it seemed a
pity they couldn't stay so. There were shelves all around this room, too,
and there the dishes look like they do when we see them--the pink glazing
has turned white.

There is nothing more done to them except the _dressing_. We had now gone
all around, and were almost at the _dressing-room_ where we started. And
when we went in again we f