THE DRAMA OF GLASS
BY
KATE FIELD
PUBLISHED BY THE
LIBBEY GLASS CO.
The Drama of Glass was an inspiration born in the brain of Kate Field,as she watched the busy workmen, who with trained eyes and skillfulhands, wrought out the products of one of America's great industriesthat found a temporary home in the World's Fair at Chicago.
It is an addition to the long list of brilliant writings of thisversatile woman, whose literary labors have made her memory so dear tothe thousands of Americans who have found in them the reflection of herown individuality.
The story of an art that is as old as the building of the City ofBabylon, that formed a part in the life of Egypt, that was interwoven inthe history of Rome, and that[Pg 6] gave a reputation to a nation, is re-toldby Miss Field.
From the beginning of the art, wrapped in mystery and legend, step bystep her story has become history. She has carried it as far as theWorld's Fair, and it has devolved upon Mr. Thos. M. Willey to completewhat she so well begun.
Have you ever thought what a drama glass plays in the history of theworld? It is a drama even in the French acceptation of the word, whichinfers not only intense action, but death. Can there be more intenseaction than that of fire, and is not glass the own child of fire anddeath?
The origin of glass is lost in myth and romance. Nobody knows how it wasborn, but there are as many traditions as there are cities claiming tobe Homer's birthplace. Pliny says that the discovery of glass was due tosubstituting cakes of nitre for stones as supports for cooking pots.
According to his story, certain Phœnician merchants landed on thecoast of Palestine and cooked their food in pots supported on cakes of