Kenosha tribune & telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1856-1859, 1859-05-05
Eiteratp MisteIlanp.
About ShawIs.
From the Boston Transcript.

another, it is knOtted around the loinS,
like a sash in yet another, it is swath,
ed round the body like skirt. When
ever worn at all, it is the pet article of
dress. From time remote beyond
computation, 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 materials for the choicest
shawls, For time immemorial, the pat
TENS which we know so well have been
handed down as half sacred tradition
through Hlndoo ancestry, which puts
even Welsh pedigrees to shame. For
thousands Of 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 thousands of years have East
ern potentates made presents of shawls
to distinguished strangers, together with
dimonds and pearls.
AT the Russian Court, ladies Judge
one another by their shawls as by their
diamonds. In France, the bridegroom
wins taver by judicious gift of this
kind. In Cairo and Damascus, the
gift of q shawl will cause almost as much
heart burning in the harem as the intro
duction Of new wife. In England the
daughter Of the house spends the whole
of her first quarters allowance III the
purchase of shawl The Paris griset-
tie and the London dress maker go to
| their work with the little shawl pinned
neatly at the waist. The lost gin drink
er covers her rags with the remnant o
the shawl Of better days. The Peas
ants daughter buys a white cotton
shawl, with a gay border, for her we'd
ding; and it washes and dies until ,hav-
ing wrapped all her babies in turn, it is
finally dyed black to signali2e her wild
owhood. The maiden aunt growing ell
derby, takes to wearing a shawl in the
house in midwinter; and the aged
grandmother would no more think of
going without it any season than with
out her cap.
Sharpe's London Magazine recently
had an interesting article on Cashmere
shawlS, from which we learn that the
fine wool Of the Cashmere goat is shorn
i'll the Spring, shortly before the warm
season, the time when the animal, in
its natural state, seeks thorns and hedg-
es in order to free itself from the bur
den Of its warm covering: All the
hard ard long hairs are picked out most
carefully. The wool, thus purified, is
first washed in a warm solution OF pot
ash. and afterward in cold water, in
which process felting must be carefully
avoided. 1t is then bleached upon the
grass, and carded for spinning.
The shawl-wool is three times dyed
before carding, after spinning, and in
the wool. The Asiatics avoid spinning
the wool hard, in order that the shawl
may be soft. They use spindle, which
consists of a ball OF clay, with an iron
wire attached. The finger and the
thumb OF the spinner are kept smooth
by stetite powder. A large shawl Of
the finest quality requires five pounds of
the wool; one Of inferior quality, from
three to four pounds. About $4,000
shawls are made yearly,in 16 500 looms
each of which employs three workmen.
/
ced into France, England, South Caro-
lima, and Tennessee. The value Of a
flock may be estimated from the fact
that no real Tibet goat has ever been
sold for less than a thousand dollars.
This enormous price, moreover, is not
a speculative one, for no fleeced animal
has wool of such iineness, softness, and
durability. The wool of all Thibet goats
in Tennessee, for example, has been en-
gagged at New York this year at eight
dollars and half per pound, the pur-
chasers designing to send it to Paisley,
Tin Scotland) in order to be manufac-
tured into shawls.
The price paid for the real Cash
mere shawls, or those woven in India
have sometimes been almost fabulous
A full-sized shawl, such as is called IL
America a long shawl, ordinarily com
mands in Paris or London from five
hundred to five thousand dollars, accor
ding to the quality. Scarfs and square
shawls, being smaller, sell for less. 1t
a mistake, however, to suppose that all
those shawls are manufactured in India
in the shape in which they are sold here
Generally, indeed, the centers and
borders come out separately, and are
put together afterward in sizes, and Of
ten patterns, to suit customers. More
+ over a large portion Of the shawls solo
f as real India ones are actually made IL
. France, for the Thibet goat was intro
duced into that country more than thir
ty years ago, and the Cashmere shawl'
initiated with considerable skill. Judg
. es Of the article pretend ia say, howev
. er that the real India shawl can be de
f tected, by its having less evenly wov'
: web, as also from it's bright colors. |
o is likewise said that the border of tn
e genuine Cashmere shawl is invariabl,
Y woven in small pieces, which are after
e ward sewed together, rs the whole Dor
/, der is subsequently sewn on to the cen
$ ter. But other authorities deny tina
n the skill of India is insufficient to brOch
shawl; in other words to weave th
# border and center in one peace, or ruI
# the pattern of the former over the lat
g ter.
, The following remarks Of a contem
Il porary writer refer chiefly to the deal
/ ers of Cashmere shawls. He says:
$ ''The persons who, in our country, an
0 at the present day, purchase worsted 0
l. wooden goods under the denominatio
al of Cashmere, are, er ought to be, awar
= that such goods are Cashmere only
7. name. A real Cashmere shawl, mad
by the inhabitants Of that valley fror
the wool of peculiar variety of gos
: reared on the plains ofThibet, is mos
costly article, eagerly sought after b
. the raiahs and the sultans of the cas-
but finding its way to Europe very rare