Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-04-10

Or to sit with my hands in my lap, and wish
that sin would cease.
think, sometimes, it were best to let the
Lord alone;
I think some people forget He was here before
they came s.
It's little for His glory. and g. cd deal
60 more for their own,
That they pcddlc their potty schemes and
blate and babblc and 4roan.
I sometimes think it were best, and were
less to blame,
Should sit with my hands in my lap-in my
face crimson shame.
The Old Cabinet; Scrioners for .4pril.
ALOST ART REVIVED.
The Empress Joxcphine's Old Point dc
Vcnixc Lnccs-Tho Empress Eugenie's
Eress-A New York Importer story.
From the N. Y. Sun.
It is we'll known among ladies who
are connoisseurs in lace, that the man.
ufacture of old point de Venise has been
among the lost arts for upwards of a
century. Whenever one of our Ameri-
can princesses on her round of morn
ing shopping asks for point de Venise,
the salesman who is well informed in
laces knows at once that his customer
is, not If he is sharp, shrewd, and
unscrupulous, he practices q deception
by showing the lady some other lace {;
if he is honest he tells her the truth. A
representative of the Sun, while looking
for items for trade report few days
ago, gathered the following facts from
lace importer and head OF the lace
department. in wholesale dry goods
house, whose cash receipts from sales
amount to over sixty millions annually.
About five years before the fall of
Paris and banishment of Napoleon III.
the Empress Eugenie discovered one
day among alot of old laces, which had
been transferred to her as souvenirs of
the Empress Josephine, and which her
daughter Queen Hortense had relig-
iously preserved as relics of her?illus-
trious mother, about quarter of a
yard of a lace hounce of most singu-
lar and beautiful mesh and peculiar
design. The ex. Empress is dilet-
tante and connoisseur in faces as we'll
as in many other fine arts. She saw
at a glance that she possessed an art
treasure, the more valuable as it was
| yellow with age, broken and mutilated.
She sent at once for M. De Lisle, the
President of the Compagnie des Indies,
lace manufacturers of Paris, and
spreading her treasure before his adj
miring eyes, said:
g., Monsieur, I wish this lace repro
duced, mesh and design, in full lace
dress for myself: Can your lace max
era do it," =.
Bowing low before the beautiful wo
man, the manufacturer replied:
"Your Royal Highness gives me a
difficult commission, one, fear, i'm
possible to perform. Your remnant is
real old point de Venise, of which there
are but few samples in existence, and
the art OF making it is LOST
"Can we not revive it? asked the
Empress. 81 give you carte blanche
in making the. experiment, aud another
carte blanche for my dress when fin
ished."
Madame. I will see what can be
done. If possible, it shall be accom-
plished, "and bowling again, he retired
from the royal presence, taking with
him the old piece Of point de Venice
When an Empress commands every
body hastens to obey: So the Presi-
dent of the Compagnie des Indies lost
no time. He first submitted the SAM
pies of Queen Hortense's relic to his
own adult experienced lace makers.
None. knew the mesh. He placed it
under powerful lenses-no better sue
cess; It's intricacy baffled them all.
No instruments, however fine, nor fin
gers the most skilled, under eyes the
most praoticed, could tell how it could
Ehe raproducad. Our manufacturer was
/ perplaxas1,s but not il despair His
next step was to ransack the whole en-
pire for the oldest lace makers living.
About forty old women, sexagen.
arians and octogenarians, were taken
to Paris. They were provided
with the best of glasses and the most
powerful hand lenses. One after the
other examined the old flounces. Alas!
not one knew the mesh. NJ. De Lisle
vas almost desperate. He had tried
adult ingenuity and the experience of
age, now he must resort to youth. He
selected from his young girls twenty of
the most intelligent workers those
with the strongest eyes anu deftest
fingers. To each he gave a section of
the old sample. Heprovided them with
lenses and every appliance for work.
In the mean time they were secluded
and given every necessary comfort, so
that their eyes, their fingers, and their
minds might he in perfect working
order. He watched the work from
day to day and week to week {;
still no progress seemed to
be made. At length he left the house
one evening, almost persuaded to give
mp the experiment.. This was about
one year after the imperial order had
been given. The next day he was
late in reaching his Office, but as soon
as he arrived the superintendent OF
the lace workers met him with the
long wished Tor. welcome, but almost
incredible intelligence that one of the
young girls had discovered the old
point de Venise mesh. The President
hurried to the room where the sue
oessful young worker was bending
over her lace cushion. He seized 9
lens, examined the work in her hands
compared it with the original, and {
quiet smile stole over his features.
"Eh bie,s ;" he exclaimed softly
"N est achieve" "'':
Turning to the successful discovers
rewarded her with the place o
teacher to the others and general su
perintendent of the work, and commu
nicated with the Empress who among
all her engagements had kept diligen
watch of the progress of affairs.
Now the work was begun in earnest
= It was four years before It approached
completion, but from time to time tn
= Empress visited the manufactory, show
k ing the greatest joy and pride that
o lost art had been restored by the lac
weavers of France in her reign. Befor
i the dress was finished Paris was i
ashes and Eugene an exile. But til
;. lace weavers escaped the general dt
, struction and Eugenie's dress wa
-, spared. The generous and noble w
man did not forget NJ. do Lisle nor he
order. She wrote to him from EN-
Il land, saying "though no longe, a
J. Empress, nor enjoying the income
). royalty, she would take the dress whe
finished if he should be a loser /
IS keeping it."
The manufacturer, not to be outdo1
W in nobility or generosity, laid the cal
=, as stated in the Empress s letter befo
-, -, the directors Of the company. Th'
III were touche1 with the misfOrtuneS al