A LACE-DRAPED FIGURE.

ace in Dresden, and yet so highly was this inferior kind prized that the first models for making it were made of silver. It was not until 1710 that Böttger, after combating many difficulties, succeeded in manufacturing his first white china plates. His perseverance and courage were rewarded by Augustus, who conferred upon him more privileges than he had hitherto enjoyed, and gave him among other titles that of a hochverständiger Tausendkünstler, with which the young man was greatly delighted. Böttger's mind appears always to have been acute at seizing any advantages that fell in his way. For instance, his discovery of the white clay (the kaolin), which enabled him to manufacture a better quality of china, was quite curious. It was the fashion of the time for both sexes to powder the hair. Usually flour was employed for this purpose, but one day it occurred to Veit Schnorr (an ancestor of the celebrated Julius Schnorr, the artist) that he had found a marketable and cheaper substitute for flour in some fine clay he had seen near Aue, in the Erzgebirge. Schnorr successfully introduced the clay for hairpowder. Some of it falling into the hands of Böttger attracted his attention immediately by its weight. He ascertained its origin, and at once determined in his mind that here was the substance out of which he could make white china-ware. A trial soon proved that he was right, and a single specimen of his first white plate is now to be seen at Dresden. Böttger is said to have lived a very intemperate life at Meissen, and his excesses doubtless hastened his demise, although his

long captivity and distress of mind may have had a share in undermining his constitution. In his sober hours he was devoted to improving his important discovery, and some of the methods of ornamenting china-ware which he introduced survive at the present day. He was set at liberty on the nineteenth of April, 1714, after thirteen years of virtual imprisonment, but his freedom only led him to plunge into deeper orgies, and he died, a miserable wreck, on the thirteenth of March, 1720, before he had reached his thirty-fifth year.

Doubt has often been expressed as to whether Böttger were really the discoverer of the method of making china-ware in Europe, and it is curious that the records of the time make no mention of the discovery

itself, although all of

them agree in saying that in October or November, 1707, the first specimens of the jaspis porcelain were manufactured by Böttger, being more than a year before he exhibited his ware to Augustus. Böttger always spoke of china as his own and first-born child, and he placed over his laboratory in Meissen this inscription:

"Es machte Gott, der grosse
Schöpfer,

Aus einem Goldmacher einen
Töpfer."

0

THE traveler in central Ohio, journeying by the new railroad from Columbus to Cleveland by way of Mount Vernon, finds himself, for several miles of his course, skirting the banks of a sparkling stream to which the old Indians gave the name "Kokosing." The valley through which this river flows is a charming one, and at one of the sudden turns of this winding stream, a few miles beyond Mount Vernon, upon a finely situated hill, rises the village of Gambier, the seat of Kenyon College.

Half a century ago there was probably no institution of learning in our land more talked about than Kenyon College, for it was one of the first literary ventures of the West, and its needs and expectations were heralded far and near. Many there are who prefer a rose-bud to the fully developed flower, and there is a certain charm. about infancy which we do not recognize in manhood. This doubtless is one of the reasons why Kenyon has recently occupied a less prominent place before the public than in her early days. Besides, her development has not altogether been in the line anticipated. She has failed where success was dreamed of; she has won honor in ways that were not contemplated.

The corner-stone of Kenyon College was laid in the month of June, 1827, so that

Gambier is just beginning her second halfcentury of earnest life. By a happy coincidence the fiftieth year marked the elevation of one of Kenyon's sons to the presidency of the United States. One of the trustees of Kenyon College, Hon. Morrison R. Waite, is now the highest judicial officer of the country. Kenyon's sons also are to be found in the halls of Congress, so that she has links binding her to every department of the government-legislative, judicial, executive.

The list of the alumni of Kenyon has already grown to fair proportions. From the beginning her standard has been high, and

stature as he was, he was remarkably light and graceful in his movements, and when not ruffled with opposition or displeasure, exceedingly agreeable, polished and finished in his manner. Toward those who betrayed hauteur in their deportment with him, or whom he suspected as actuated by such a spirit, or who positively differed with him as to his policy, and especially toward those whom he looked upon as his enemies, he was generally distant and overbearing, and sometimes, when offended, perhaps morose. In his bearing toward them his noble countenance was always heavy and lowering, and his deportment frigid and unmistakably repulsive; but in his general intercourse and always with his particular and intimate friends, his address and social qualities were polished, delightful and captivating; his countenance was sunlight, his manner warm and genial as balmy May, and his deportment winning to a degree rare among even remarkably commanding and popular men." Bishop Chase came of a sturdy New England stock, and was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, where he spent the days of his youth. When manhood came, however, he could not content himself with such quiet and settled surroundings, for, of him, as afterward of his nephew, the Secretary, ambition was a most marked characteristic. He was first a missionary in western New York, and then he was stationed in Poughkeepsie, but soon afterward he removed to New Orleans. He was the first Protestant minister in the state of Louisiana. After five years of hard and successful labor, he removed again to the north, and for six years was a minister in Hartford, Conn. But Philander Chase was a man too restless, too ambitious, too great to remain long contented in any quiet and peaceful nook. He craved the contests and the storms of life. So, early in the spring of the year 1817, resolved "not to build upon another man's foundations," he started for what was then the far West, the newly admitted state of Ohio. He was consecrated bishop in February, 1819.

He soon became convinced that he must have assistance in his work. In four years his list of three clergymen had grown to six, but what could six men do in so vast a field? Moreover, he became convinced that for western work, the best laborers were western men, more accustomed than others to the hardships of the new civilization, and more likely to be contented with the labor and its returns. So his mind began

to be filled with a dream of a "school of the prophets," which, before long, took definite shape in his mind. Happily, the bishop's son suggested that favorable mention had been made in a prominent English journal of the new missionary work in faroff Ohio. The bishop immediately determined that the ocean must be crossed, and the mother church asked to help. He first appointed his son for this service; but his son's failing health required a journey to a southern clime, so the resolute bishop determined to go himself.

In England, Bishop Chase became a great favorite. One noble lady was so much interested that she begged him to superintend the erection of a "log-cabin" upon her spacious grounds. Wealthy friends were gathered, and the pioneer bishop was the hero of the hour, delighting all with his thrilling sketches of frontier hardships, and with his glowing prophecies of magnificent triumphs sure to be achieved. Lord Gambier helped him greatly, Lord Kenyon also and Sir Thomas Ackland, and Lady Rosse. and Hannah More. The total result of this first appeal was more than five thou sand pounds. In Ohio, the returning bishop was looked upon as a man of vast resources. Moreover, he felt himself to be even richer than he was, for his ideas were always larger than his cash in hand. So, very naturally, his thought of ministerial education expanded and became a scheme of Christian education. He determined to found not only a théological seminary, but a college also, while through his mind there floated visions of a grand educational center. He was strongly urged to confine himself to his original plan. and to establish merely a school for the training of clergymen. Mr. Charles Hammond, a distinguished and influential citizen of Cincinnati, was especially strenuous on this point, and indeed went so far as to prepare and carry through the legislature a bill for the incorporation of "The Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the state of Ohio," and so fixed the legal title of the new institution. But Bishop Chase was equally strenuous the other way. He readily won over his English friends to his view of the case, and soon after secured an additional legislative act which gave to the president and professors of the Seminary the power of conferring degrees in the arts and sciences under the name and style of the President and Professors of Kenyon College in the state of Ohio.

The next important question to be settled

was the location of the college. This proved to be a bone of contention, and gave rise to much discussion, and to not a little acrimonious feeling. More than "seven cities" contended for the honor, and not one of them carried off the prize, for Bishop Chase resolutely set himself to find a location in the country, and as usual was successful. A tract of eight thousand acres in Knox County was purchased at the price of two dollars and a quarter per acre; the cornerstone of Kenyon College was laid and the little village of Gambier sprang into being.

This choice of a location amid well-nigh untrodden forests involved as a matter of course, heavy sacrifices and large outlays of labor. It was necessary to begin with the very elements of civilization. Workmen had to be gathered, lands made ready for tilling, crops raised and harvested, and cabins built for shelter. In fact, for some years, farming, milling and merchandising were carried on in the name of the college, and

the institution became possessed of a store, a hotel, a printing-office, a saw-mill, a gristmill, a carpenter's and shoe-maker's shop, with houses for the miller, the dairy-men and the workmen. No wonder that the funds contributed by English friends were soon altogether spent, and the resources of the bishop quite exhausted.

It was needful therefore to make additional appeals for aid, and very naturally, the "public crib" was thought of as a ready source of succor. So in December, A. D. 1827, Bishop Chase went to Columbus, addressed the legislature, and received from that body an indorsement of an appeal to Congress for a donation from the public lands. Soon after, a bill was introduced into the U. S. Senate making a grant of a township of land. The bill was advocated by prominent senators and was passed, but in the House of Representatives party spirit was roaring like a flood, and the voice of the infant college was drowned. The bill failed