Rise and fall of a family business.

This period of glass manufacturing was known historically as forest glass. Pale transparent green glass. The glass hut was located next to a mountain stream, surrounded by trees. The soil was sandy. Trees were cut down by hand and dragged to the glass hut to feed the furnace. Sand was needed to melt in the furnace with chemicals, potassium and whatever the glass makers could get their hands on to make the raw product they needed to mold into what they were creating once they had created the glass. And after they had made their magic, they would carry it to market to sell. Walking, normally, with a wheelbarrow carrying the weight of the finished product. Not only did the head of the house and the business need lots of sons to cut down trees, but also to feed the hungry furnace 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But also to dig up and carry the sand. And then to walk to market with the wheelbarrow of glass bowls, cups, plates and windows. And when they got to Prague, or Vienna, negiotiate the sale to eager buyers. It was a major trip to undertake, with many pitfalls waiting to be overcome. Bandits, highway men, wild animals, treacherous terrain. There were legends of murders on the road to Venice, and thefts of money. But luckily, that never happened to this family. The boys were too strong, too big, too wary and smart. So the old man had to chose his son carefullyto lead the trip, because everything was relying on them to survive the trip and make money for the family and the business. So the duties were divided up between the sons. The oldest and smartest was in charge of selling and the money. The strongest and most trained in fighting were in charge of security. And they always carried sharp weapons to fend off attacks on the road. Once, they were attacked, and the boys were prepared for it. Shifts were made up for guard duty while the rest slept with knives and hammers at the ready. When the attack came in the middle of the night, the guard woke up the brothers and the fight was on. The bandits were not expecting resistance, and they quickly ran away. And never bothered them again. And there was always one or two younger sons along for training. Then, other sons stayed behind to work the furnace, making glass and running the business. It was never ending. But somewhere in all this hard work there was hard play, dances, dinners, hunting, fishing, and courting. Just down the stream and over the hill there were unmarried girls just waiting for a boy to come avisiting and courting.

The problem with forest glassworks was eventually the trees around the glass hut were all cut down, and the forest got further and further away. When it was so far away as to not be profitable to walk the ox carts to the receding edge of the forest, the glass hut would be abandoned, and rebuilt in the middle of the forest. A new house and barn would be built, and they would start all over again. All over the mountains there were hundreds of abandoned glass huts and furnaces scattered around. If a big enough village was developed around the glass hut, the glass hut would not be abandoned and relocated, instead better roads would be built, other businesses would be started, churches built, families started and settled down. Slowly, the ,mountains became settled, and civilized. The ethnic Germans were becomining Austrian Bohemian. They were never going back.