Here the art has become so popular that it is actually taught in some of the evening schools; and frames and all needed appliances are now made, and can be had very cheaply. But it is still unknown in the United States; and so the learner must trust to the village carpenter, or possibly to her own skill, already acquired in handling tools, for the small frame which is the first necessity.

This frame must be the size of the ordinary tile, and of eight pieces. First, two cradles, or supports, on which you lay the flat piece of board the size of the tile; four side pieces must be made, two of them a little longer than the others, and with a groove into which the shorter pieces fit, just as you would make a box. These are to fit around the flat board, and to fix and hold them tightly; a peg at each end will be best. The frame is then complete and ready for work.

The iron chopper is made here so that it can be raised or lowered by a peg; but a very good substitute will be a meat-cleaver, such as can be bought at' a hardware store. A small wooden mallet, a bottle of mucilage, a traced paper pattern, a piece of glass cut just the size of the tile, and a package of Portland cement, which can be had at a good paint-shop, or from the manufacturers of tiles. A stock of broken china is the next need; and the commoner sorts are best. Yellow pie dishes are an essential, a great deal of white, some black, if it is possible to get it, though there is very little black pottery, and red and white and brown; in short all the colors you can secure. If the home heap of broken crockery does not suffice, any china-store will be glad to get rid of its stock of this nature.

Now for the method. Choose for a beginning a very simple pattern, say a circle enclosed in a diamond, and let the colors be as simple; say, yellow for the circle, red for the projecting triangles of the diamond, and white for the ground. A favorite Roman combination is red, black, and white in this same pattern; but it may not be possible to get black.

Draw the pattern carefully over a sheet of paper; lay it on the board which makes the bottom of the frame, and cover it with the piece of glass. In this way your pattern is not destroyed in working, and you have a perfectly flat surface, as glass never warps as wood does. Now you must prepare your china, and can make as large a stock as you like, depending upon the number of tiles you plan for. If you have not the chopper with a peg which will hold the china, simply put your broken piece under the cleaver, and strike that with the mallet. Begin with the yellow pie-dish, and a little practice will very soon enable you to chop it into rectangular bits quarter of an inch square, the most useful size. Triangles are very useful, and the pieces will often break in this way. It is important that they should all be perfectly flat, and the glazed surface must always be put next to the glass.

When your stock of pieces,"tesserae" the mosaic workers call them, is ready, brush a little mucilage over the glass to help hold the bits steady. Then begin to form your circle, arranging the bits so that their outer edge just touches the outer edge of the pattern. If you take care to follow the general outline carefully, the inside Ones take care of themselves. Remember, too, that you only see the back of the tile while working; that the glazed surface must always go against the glass, and the unglazed be uppermost. Make the outline very carefully, using the triangles for the corners, if a circle can be said to own corners, and not leaving the bits quite touch, since the cement is to be poured in to hold them together.

For the points of the diamond, take a piece of red-glazed earthenware and cut into pieces, taking care to have four very neat triangles for these points. Outline the diamond as you did the circle, and fill up the centre. For the background use your white"tesserae,"gumming the surface as before, and outline the entire diamond in even pieces. Next outline the frame, taking care to leave here a little space between the outline and the sides of your box frame, so as to make a firm edge when the cement is poured in. Fill up this space carefully and the"setting"is done.

Now, first being perfectly certain that all your pieces touch the glass evenly, wet the entire rough back by passing a wet brush over it, the object of this being to prevent the porous earthenware from sucking the water too quickly out of the cement. The tile is then ready for the final and most critical operation. Pour a pint of water into a common earthen bowl, shaking in the powdered cement from your package, letting the water damp it slowly, and then, with an iron spoon mixing it in, till the whole is like smooth thick custard. Take this by the spoonful and pour very carefully over your tile, seeing that it sinks down well between the"tesserae."When this is done mix more cement with the custard till it is quite thick and firm, and spread it over this first thin coating till you have filled up to the level of the frame. If it seems too liquid at the top, sift on some dry cement which will absorb the water. Put the frame in a dry, warm room, and in two or three days the cement will be hard and white. Take out the pegs, remove the sides and back very carefully, and the tile is before you. If the first filling was not perfect, there will be little gaps and hollows in your"tesserae,"but these can be filled from the front if done very carefully.

There is one very curious fact about Portland cement which must be guarded against very carefully. If it is not fresh it"dies,"as the makers say; that is, it will not cohere, but falls to dust again. For this reason a packet should never be opened until wanted, and what is left should be put away in an air-tight box, though it is far better to use it all up at once. The basin and spoon must be cleaned at once to keep the cement from hardening on them, and in throwing away any that is left, remember not to throw it down a sink, as it would harden and stop up the pipe. You can have several frames, and thus fill a number of tiles at once with the mixture, which is the most practical way.

Tiles of this nature are not suitable for floors, since the china might chip off if much walked upon. But for bathroom walls, flower stands, dados, and fireplaces they are admirable, and patterns innumerable may be found in the head- and tail-pieces of old books. The fact that the china can not be cut very small or very evenly, prevents making very elaborate designs, but this is no disadvantage. Walter Crane's picture books have many conventional designs which can easily be followed, and books of architectural plates will give you old mosaic floors. Your own invention will come to your aid, and you will find that tiles which are now a luxury can be made so cheaply that they become possible for those who have very little money. The work itself seems to fascinate all who undertake it, and the effect has none of the cheapness which might seem to result from the use of such materials, but, when carefully done, looks and is like good mosaic work. The frames may be larger than the ordinary tile, but if too large may break. Nothing can be prettier than these tiles in a bath-room, and if they are to be set against a wall, the backs must be roughened with a knife before the cement is entirely dry. Do this by simply cutting lines with the back of a knife. It is better to keep them some time before using them, and their uses are countless. As a finish above the kitchen sink, nothing could be cleaner or more easily cared for, and whoever begins to utilize them will discover many places where they"fill a long-felt want"as nothing else has or can. In short, I should like to begin some with you at once, regarding the inventor as a genuine benefactor, and believing that you will agree with me when your first set is finished.