Now the present head of the business is compact of
heredi- tary knowledge and skill ; and, what is more, he can compete successfully in the modern market. The scale, of course, is very small. It was a plunge, for example, when he spent 15 on a personal trip in , search of particular customers in a neighbouring town ! Nevertheless, the little factory, with a dozen workers, confined to a tiny plot, cannot nearly keep pace with the demand. Considerable orders are continually turned down because they cannot be fulfilled on the present scale of the business. Some of the work is merely an essay in punning. There is a big jar, for example, stuck all over with queer crooked handles and known as the Handel Festival ! But the bulk of the work is artistic in the best sense of the term. Whether the product is a rough flower pot or an ornamental jar, cunningly glazed and painted, the article has the quality, say, of an Italian oil jar. It is beautiful in itself without the aid—and this is the true test—of any adventitious or unessential decoration ; and can be sold at an even lower price than the mechanical product of the big factory.
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