e new world. Perhaps no greater honor was ever paid man than Columbus
received on his return to Ferdinand and Isabella. Yet, after his second
visit to the land he discovered, he was taken back to Spain in chains,
and finally died in poverty and neglect; while a pickle dealer of
Seville, who had never risen above second mate, on a fishing vessel,
Amerigo Vespucci, gave his name to the new world. Amerigo's name was
put on an old chart or sketch to indicate the point of land where he
landed, five years after Columbus discovered the country, and this
crept into print by accident.

"BERNARD OF THE TUILERIES"

Opposite the entrance to the Sevres Museum in the old town of Sevres,
in France, stands a handsome bronze statue of Bernard Palissy, the
potter. Within the museum are some exquisite pieces of pottery known as
"Palissy ware." They are specimens of the art of Palissy, who spent the
best years of his life toiling to discover the mode of making white
enamel.

The story of his trials and sufferings in seeking to learn the secret,
and of his final triumph over all difficulties, is an inspiring one.

Born in the south of France, as far back as the year 1509, Bernard
Palissy did not differ much from an intelligent, high-spirited American
boy of the twentieth century. His parents were poor, and he had few of
the advantages within the reach of the humblest child in the United
States to-day. In spite of poverty, he was cheerful, light hearted, and
happy in his great love for nature, which distinguished him all through
life. The forest was his playground, his companions the birds, insects,
and other living things that made their home there.

From the first, Nature was his chief teacher. It was from her, and her
alone, he learned the lessons that in after years made him famous both
as a potter and a scientist. The habit of observation seemed natural to
him, for without suggestions from books or older heads, his eyes and
ears noticed all that the nature student of our day is drilled into
observing.

The free, outdoor life of the forest helped to give the boy the
strength of mind and body which afterward enabled him, in spite of the
most discouraging conditions, to pursue his ideal. He was taught how to
read and write, and from his father learned how to paint on glass. From
him he also learned the names and some of the properties of the
minerals employed in painting glass. All the knowledge that in after
years made him