Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-09-20

BosroN, Sept. 6, 1878.


PETS HAVE TAKEN THE PLACE or FOREIGN
GOODS IN our HOME TRADE-soNm INTEREST
ING FACTS ABOUT SOME OF THE sTANDARD
GRADES OF CARPETS.
The impulse to wave the American flag
comes over me very strongly once in awhile,
and l feel quite like allowing the proud bird
of freedom" to shrek himself hoarse. There
are circumstances under which it is perfectly
allowable to fluttor the stars and stripes and
''let the eagle scream" There are times
when one thinks with patriotism without one
thought of political creed or party platform.
Listen to the cries and walls of despair which
come to us from the plague-stricken South.
Is there any thought of sectional differences
now? Indeed, no Hearts and hands re-
spond to the first cry of distress. Men and
women who have given largely already. give
again Those who cannot give money, give
of their time and labor Tompkins & Hill,
the generous proprietors of the Boston Thea
tire, offer benefit at which ali the proceeds
are to go to the Southern sufferers. The
company and orchestra give their services;
printers, bill posters, all volunteer and to
commence the good work the mayor orders
ten tickets. Bands and musicians, both vo-
cal and instrumental offer their services for
a grand concert in Music Hall Nickel boxes
for small contributions are being placed in all
available places. Everybody is doing his or
her most, be it much or little Devoted men,
bers of the Protestant Episcopal sisterhood are
volunteering as nurses, and some have al
ready started on their labor of love and chari-
I, Al
country where calls for like assistance are so
quickly and SO generously answered as here
1t makes little difference whether the appeal
comes from home or abroad, whether it be
famine in Ireland or India, hrs in Chicago.
earthquake in South America, or yellow fe-
yer in the Southwest, there is always that
same spontaneous outpouring of liberal as
sistance. Foreigners may laugh at our fol-
bles, and regard our political institutions with
half contemptuous perplexity, but they're
bound to respect our generosity and our read
mess in time of need, aud there is great deal
else that compels their respect and admira-
ton both. l think l could make good
Fourth of July Grafton. feel quite in the
humor for it. Doesn't somebody wish to en-
gage me?
What do you think I've been doing this va
cation-at least n part of it : Well, I'll tell
you I've been studying up American man
ufactures, and I've found out this that we
not only equal European manufacturers, but
in some cases excel them, and that, too, in the
very articles which we have grown accus-
toned to think must of necessity be better
made on the other side of the water such as
silks, wall paper and carpets l must confess
that until l studied the matter was as pref
udiced in favor of the English and French
manufactures of these fabrics any one
could be. Not that | didn't think our own
country was as capable of producing them as
the old countries, and that l didn't fully be-
leve that they would in time attain to it, but
l had no idea of how rapidly we had already
progressed, nor in what high esteem our man
ufactures were held.
Take it in the matter of carpets, for in
stance-I will tell about the wall paper and
silks some other time. l wonder if any of
you have any idea how many American car
pets are sold yearly, and how few English in
proportion. 1t is an old saying that figures
won't lie, so that the best proof l can give
you is to show you the authority upon which
it is based. Probably no less carpets are
bought now than ten years ago, and it is quite
likely, owing to the reduction in the price,
that many more are purchased yet in 1870
the import of carpets amounted to over five
millions of dollars Last year the importa-
tions were only three hundred thousand.
What are not imported can't be sold that is
certain; and as there is no diminution in the
carpet trade, it is quite obvious that Amer
lean manufactures control the market. Then
again look at the prices at which carpets are
| sold. 1t would be utterly impossible to offer
them at anything like the prices We're they
imported. Adding the duties to the first cost
which is greater than that of American
| goods-the price would necessarily be as high
as IL was few years ago. | remember per-
| fectly well from my own experience in hunt
| ing carpets, when a brussels carpet cost So
| 81 the yard, tapestry $500, and ingram from
| $3.50 to SIZE. Now look at the list of
| prices Brussels S1.7j, tapestry S'l.00, in
| grain S1.OO, and these Of the very best man
| ufactures. Ask your own carpet dealer, if
| you like, if he can say anything better of n
| Brussels carpet than that it is II Lowell,
Crompton or n Bigelow. Can he recommend
a tapestry any more highly than by telling
his customer that it is a Roxbury, confirming
his words by pointing to two parallel black
| lines running near the selvage on the wrong
side, the patented trade mark of the comPa-
| ny, by which their goods may always be told?
or can he give greater praise to an ingram
than TO assure the possible purchaser that it
is a Lowell ; He will tell you that there is no
| higher standard for carpeting than this
Look little at the manufacture of Brus-
sells. We will take, if you please, the Lowell,
as it is the standard The wool used is of
the very best quality of Russian and South
American. Sometimes for certain purposes
the Colorado wool is used to small extent,
| but as a rule American wool is too fine for
carpets and is better adapted for cloths. The
| Colorado wool more nearly approaches the
| heavier, coarser wool of Russia. The long
combing wool is used for the pile, and that
| gives the peculiar spring that one feels when
the foot presses a good Brussels. As for the
texture in the weaving, nine wires are used to
| the inch, 25G threads to the width, which is
three -fourths of yard there are five frames
| with three spools to the frame, and when the
colors and figures are very complicated six
frames are used. The weaving of Brussels
carpetings has been brought to its present
| perfection by Mr.. Erastus b. Bigelow of Bos-
| ton, who was the first to apply the jacquard
attachment to carpet looms. By this attach
ment smaller figures may be woven, and at
its introduction an entire revolution was pro-
duced in carpet weaving. The old.time spraw-
| ly figures have given way to more delicate
ones The foreign manufacturers have adopt
ed Mr.. Bigelow's improvement, and to-day
the prettiest Brussels carpets made in Eng