Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1852-11-03
From Dickens Household Words.
ShaWlS.

dle-ln tnat country Wnere CnaTlcS oIou-
DAFT and his friend Connolly, whose faces
will never be forgotten by some OF us, aud
whose voices still sound in our ears, con-
soleG each other through loathsome nm
prsonment, and went out together 70 lose
their heads in the market place OF the cap
ital; in that distant and impractcable coun-
try of Bokhara, which we are ready to say
we will never have any conneXon with
there are people always employed IN our
service. I'VE are not now thinking OF the
Bokhara clover, which is such treat to our |
co.'s and horses. We owe that, and lu- |
cerne, and others of our green crops, to the I!
interior of Asia; but we ale thinking oil
something more elaborate. In Bokhara, the
camel is watched while the fine hair on the
belly is growing this fine hair is cut oft so
carefully that not fibre is lost it is put
by until there is enough to spin into yarn,
unequalled for softness; and thenit is dyed
all manner Of bright colours, and woven IN
strips eight inches wide OF shawl patterns
such as-with all our pans and cost, with
all our Schools Of Design and study OF ma
ture and art--we are not yet able to rival.
These strips are then sewn together so cum
uingly that no European can discover the
joints. The precious merchandise is dellv-
cred to traders who receive it on Credit
On their return from market they pay the
price of the shawls at the Bokhara value,
with 80 per cent. interest; or, if they cam
not do this in consequence of having been
robbed, or of any other misfortune, they
stay away and are never seen again III
their native land.
Where is this market? So far away from
home that the traders wear out their clothes
during their journey and their fair skins
become as brown as mulattoes. On, on,
on they go, day after day, month after
month, OH their pacing camels, or beside
them, over able-lands, mounting one above
another; over grass, among rocks, over
sand, through SHOWS now chilled to the
marrow by icy winds; now scorched by
sunshine, from which there is no shelter but
the flat cotton caps, with which they thatch
their bare crowns: on, on, for fifteen thou
sand miles, to the borders of Russia, to sell
the shawls which are to hang on ladies
shoulders IN Hyde Park, and where beau
ties most do congregate in Paris and VI
emma.
The passion for shawls among all women
every where is remarkable. In one coun-
try, the shawl may flow from the head
like veil; in another, it hangs from the
shoulders in another, it is knotted round
the loins as a sash; in yet another, it IS
swathed round the body as a petticoat.-
Wherever worn at all, it is :he pet article
of dress. From time remote beyond COM
putation, the sheep Of Cashmere have been
cherished on their hills, and the goats OF
Thibet on their plains, and the camels OF
Tartary on their steppes, to furnish materi-
al for the choicest shawls. From time i'm
memorial the patterns which we know so
well have been handed down as half-sa-
cred tradition through Hindoo ancestry,
which puts even Welsh pedigrees to shame.
For thousands years have the bright dyes,
which are the despair Of our science and
art, been glittering in Indian looms, in those
primitive pits under the palm-tree where
the whimsical patterns grow, like the wild
flower springing from the soil. For thou
sands of years have Eastern potentates
made presents of shawls to distinguished
strangers, together with diamonds and
pearls.
At this day, when an Eastern prince sends
gifts to European sovereigns, there are
shawls to the value ofthousands pounds,
together with Jewels, perfumes, and wild
beasts, and valuable horses Just as was
done in the days of the Pharoahs, as the
paintings on Egyptian tombs show us at this
day. And the subjects of sovereigns have
as much liking for shawls as any queen
At the Russian Court, the ladies judge one
another by their shawls as by their dia-
monds. In France, the bridegroom wins
favour by iudicious gift of this kind. In
Cairo and Damascus, the gift Of shawl
will cause almost as much art-burning in
the harem as the introduction of new wife.
In England, the daughter ofthe house spends
the whole of her first quarters allowance
m the purchase of shawl. The Paris girls
cite, aud the London dressmaker go to their
work with the little shawl pinned neatly at
the waist. The lost gin-drinker covers her
rags with the remnants Of the shawl Of bet
ter DAYS. The farmers daughter buys a
white cotton shawl, with gay border, for
her wedding; and it washes and dyes until,
having wrapped all her babies in turn it is
finally dyed black to signalise her widow
hood. The maiden-aunt, growing elderly
takes to wearing shawl IN the house in
wid-winter; and the granny would no more
think of going without it at any season than
without her cap. When son or grandson
comes homes from travel, far or near, his
present is a new shawl, which she puts on
with deep consideration; parting with the
old one with sigh. The Manchester or
Birmingham factory girl buys gay shawl
on credit, wears it on Sunday, puts it in
pawn on Monday morning, and takes it out
again on Saturday night, for another Sun
DAYS wear, and so on, until she has wasted
money that would have bought her good
wardrobe. Thus, from China round the
world to Oregon, and from the queen down
TO the pauper, is the shawl the symbol Of
woman's taste and condition. Whence
come all these shawls For it is clear that
the supply which arrives from Asia over
bleak continents and wide oceans, can be
only for the rich and great. Some of the
shawls from Bokhara sell in the market on
the Russian frontier, fol two thousand four
hundred pounds each. Whence come the
hundred thousand shawls that the women of
Great Britain purchase every year,
Some Of the richest that our ladies wear
are from Lyons and the French taste is so
highly esteemed that our principal manu-
facturers 90 to Lyons once or twice year
for specimens and patterns. Some of our
greatest ladies of all, even the Queen and
Certain duchesses and countesses, offer to