mayed and wondering, the begrimed scullion boy
timidly approached the distressed head-servant, and said, "If you will
let me try, I think I can make something that will do."

"You!" exclaimed the servant; "and who are you?"

"I am Antonio Canova, Pisano's grandson," answered the pale-faced little
fellow.

"And what can you do, pray?" asked the man, in astonishment at the
conceit of the lad.

"I can make you something that will do for the middle of the table,"
said the boy, "if you'll let me try."

The servant had little faith in the boy's ability, but not knowing what
else to do, he at last consented that Canova should try.

Calling for a large quantity of butter, little Antonio quickly modelled
a great crouching lion, which everybody in the kitchen pronounced
beautiful, and which the now rejoicing head-servant placed carefully
upon the table.

The company that day consisted of the most cultivated men of
Venice--merchants, princes, noblemen, artists, and lovers of art--and
among them were many who, like Faliero himself, were skilled critics of
artwork.

When these people were ushered in to dinner their eyes fell upon the
butter lion, and they forgot for what purpose they had entered the
dining-room. They saw there something of higher worth in their eyes than
any dinner could be, namely, a work of genius.

They scanned the butter lion critically, and then broke forth in a
torrent of praises, insisting that Faliero should tell them at once
what great sculptor he had persuaded to waste his skill upon a work in
butter, that must quickly melt away. But Signor Faliero was as ignorant
as they, and he had, in his turn, to make inquiry of the chief servant.

When the company learned that the lion was the work of a scullion,
Faliero summoned the boy, and the banquet became a sort of celebration
in his honor.

But it was not enough to praise a lad so gifted. These were men who knew
that such genius as his belonged to the world, not to a village, and it
was their pleasure to bring it to perfection by educating the boy in
art. Signor Faliero himself claimed the right to provide for young
Antonio, and at once declared his purpose to defray the lad's expenses,
and to place him under the tuition of the best masters.

The boy whose highest ambition had been to become a village
stone-cutter, and whose home had been in his poor old grandfather's
cottage, became at once a member of Signor Faliero's family, living in
his pal