The Sun.
London, England, 1828-10-30 00:00:00

STRONTIAN STRAW HATS.

About a twelvemonth ago, or rather better, Sir
James Riddell, proprietor of Strontian, an extensive
district in Argyllshire, established a manufactory of
straw hats, as a means of improving the condition of
the peasantry on his estate. Similar establishments
have for years flourished in Orkney, where there are
at present no less than 2,000 persons engaged in
this employment, the produce of which finds a ready
market in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Following
their example, the worthy Baronet hoped, that with
a little outlay and perseverance, by the aided assist-
ance of experienced persons from the south, he would
not only open up a source of profitable occupation
for the young people, but introduce amongst them
habits of cleanliness, order, and industry, which
might be attended with the most beneficial results on
their happiness and future prospects. The scheme
has already far surpassed the expectations of its be-
nevolent projector. Managers were provided, the
villagers set to work, and orders keep pouring in
on the little colony faster than they can be executed.
Above fifty females are now happily engaged in pre-
paring the substratum of gentlemen's silk hats, and
plaiting the more ambitious structures of ladies'bon-
nets. Men are employed to dress and finish the
hats, but their number is of course comparatively
small, though there is every prospect of the esta-
blishment being speedily doubled. Each of the
girls earns from five to six pounds per annum ; and
when there are two or three in a family, or even
when there is but one, we need scarcely say how
much these earnings tell upon the scanty income of
the peasant. A complete moral change has also been
introduced into the village. Sir James and his lady
insisted mainly on cleanliness, both in and out of doors
and as the hand readily obeys what the heart die.
tates, the girls soon caught the spirit oT the lesson,
and were not enly
.neat and tidy themselves, but
carried the same principle into their father's homes.
Dunghills were speedily displaced from their ancient
prescriptive station in front of the door, dubs were
filled up, light and air were not wholly excluded,
besoms were in constant requisition, and in short
the huts of Strontian, from being almost literally
what Johnson called " murky dens," have become
neat habitable abodes, almost rivalling the cottages
of Goldsmith's beloved Abburn. The male po-
pulation of Strontian are thiefly ernploYed 111
i
cultivating some lead mines which abound n
the country, and the introduction of such habits
into the families of these men must be an
incalculable blessing. Mr. Southey reckons that
slisfr odme Ptehned ePnat Par-
liamentary Wesley did more good among the colliers of
Newcastle than in any other scene of his spiritual
which are
exertions; and perhaps philanthropy could not find a
more favourable location than amidst the homes and
families of miners._ But the attention. of the pro_
prietor of Strontian has not been confined to the
,coomvokircthsurocfhel
temporal
Through
lianaentary grant, have been erected in the district,
now up, will in a few weeks be filled with the noisy
and three of the Assembly's Schools,
~ younkers" of the glen. These are substantial
blessings—facts which speak for themselves. Nor
is there in the above sketch the slightest tinge of
hwisanextsertlnodus
ex-
aggeration. Intelligent strangers passing through
1
this lonely and rugged district, describe the scene
as one infinitely more pleasing and gratifying than
even the lakes and mountains they had travelled so
far to visit.--Grecncek Advertiser.