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JAPANESE BRONZES
which was forced to supply the wants of.
foreigners who, for the most part were as
well satisfied with a lower grade of work.
This condtion of affairs soon gave rise to
a class of inferior workmen, who flooded the
market with cheap imitations, such as can
be seen in any of the so-called Oriental
shops.
N      conclusion it may be of interest to
     offer a brief description of the method
     of casting bronzes employed at the
 present time in Japan.
   The materials used in the preparation of
the molds are vegetable substances: bees-
wax, resin, clay, river-sand, chopped rice-
straw and rice husks.
   The core, or piece around which the metal
is to be poured, is generally solid, when
small pieces are to be made; and, in other
cases, hollow. The hollow core is open,
either at one or both ends, generally at the
latter. When the core has been completed
F we could but rid ourselves of the false
      ideas, which, taken en masse, are called
      education,, we should know that there
      is nothing ugly under the sun, save
that which comes from human distortion.
Nature's work is all of it good, all of it
purposeful, all of it wonderful, all of it
beautiful. We like or dislike certain things
which may be a way of expressing our pre-
judice or our limitation; but the work is
always perfect of its kind irrespective of
human appreciation. We may prefer the
sunlight to the starlight, the evening prim-
rose to the bisnage, the antelope to the
and dried, the object is modeled upon it iin"
wax uf the proper composition. The wax
model is then coated with successive thin
layers of fire-clay applied with a brush,
until the crust is thick enough to allow
coarser clay-layers to be applied; this being
necessary in order to give the desired
strength to the mold.    The rold is then
lried very slowly, the core removed, and the
wax melted out by means of a charcoal fire.
   The mold now being ready for the opera-
 tion of casting, the molten bronze is poured
 from ladles into the mold-openings. This
 is kept up until the mold is filled, and dur-
 ing its continuance, finely-powdered rice
 bran is sprinkled on the metal as it flows
 from the ladles. The mold is then allowed
 to stand for several hours before breaking;
 it off from the casting.
   In making large castings'ladles are not
 used; the bronze being allowed to run from
 cupola-furnaces, first into a receptacle lined
 with fire-clay, and from this, through an
 aperture in the bottom, into the mold.
 mountain lion, the mocking-bird to the.
 lizard; but to say that one is good and the
 other bad, that one is beautiful and the
 other ugly, is to accuse Nature herself of
 preference-something 'which    she  never
 knew. - She designs for the cactus of the
 desert as skilfully and as faithfully as for
 the lily of the garden. Each in its way is
 suited to its place, anid each in its way has
 its unique beauty of character. And so,
 more truly perhaps than Shakespeare him-
 self knew, the toad called ugly and venom-
 ous, still holds a precious jewel in its head.
           -John C. Van Dyke, in "The Desert."
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