Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-08-14
LACE MAKING IN NEW YORK.

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LACE MAKING IN NEW YORK.
What Nine Carter Thinks OF Lace Work as
an Occupation for Poor Little Girls.
Yesterday revisited the little lace
dtetter of Nine. Esther Carter, the
only accomplished lace artistic that
have come across in the ten years
that L have been fashion editor and
journalist in New York. found the
little woman at work as usual at her
lace pillow. She smiled as entered
TO my question in regard to the pres
ent aspect of lace industry in this
country, she replied
swell, / am more encouraged than
ever. | have given up the hope of
ever making fortune and fame by my
school or my work, but am satisfied
that the industry, the work itself, will
live. This art" tapping her lace
cushion, "will live and be spread all
over this country through the instru.
mentality of my humble little school,"
"All over this country ? How ?" l
asked.
sit is not New York ladies' alone
who take lessons in lace making here.
l have had among my pupils many
intelligent ana cultivated Southern
and Western women, and not few
European ladies resident in New
York, and Washiugton-some of
them of the highest social position,
and wives of consuls and ministers
All of these ladies will carry their
knowledge OF artistic lace work
wherever they go, and have no
tlced that one lace worker always
creates many more. You have no
idea Of the fascinating nature
of the work. | have within
the last year taught several la
dies of sixty and seventy years
of age. They begin with this coarse
lace, made with linen thread spun in
this country, but they quickly pass
from this work to the finer kinds;
and in one instance | had pupil of
seventy, a western lady, who even
took point gaze stitches, to teach
them, she said, to her grandchildren.
One OF the handsomest pieces of lace
work that have ever seen made in
this country was piece of duchess,a
handkerchief border two inches deep
ct the sides and three inches at the
corners, and embracing some of the
most tedious and intricate stitches
known to the lace-worker, and this
piece was made by southern lady
over fifty years of age"
s'Then it does not hurt the eyes ?"
"Not if judiciously pursued. But
it is such fascinating work it is easy
for an enthusiast to hurt her eyesight
by too-continued application to her
needle or the cushion and bobbins."
"How about young eyes? Is it
not injurious to them ?"
"Of course it would be if children
were given fine lace work to be try
ing their eyes over all day long But
this coarse but handsome furniture
guipure made of American flax thread
can not hurt any ones eyes. Now
would like to introduce the making
of such lace as this into the public
schools of this city. Any little girl
can learn a few effective stitches in
duchess, Maltese guipure, and other
pillow laces, and if the little girls who
run about the streets in the evening
and early morning hours, begging,
selling pins and buttonhole bouquets,
had knowledge of some such indus
try as this, it would help to keep
them out of the streets, and assure
you that their parents can find sale
for more of just such lace as this than
the little girls of this city could pos
sibly make working at it for only a
few hours day-say part of the
time that they are out OF school. Then
you know that busy, occupied child
does not get into mischief The ruin
of thousands of young girls in New
York can be traced to idleness in the
twilight and early morning and eve
ming hours of the day. And small as
the amount of money that could be
made by those little fingers thus EN-.
ployed for only two or three hours
each day might be, it would be found
of value in pooc families where there
are so many consumers that they
must measure their expenditures in
pennies and dimes instead of dollars.
You know how fashionable all kinds
of decorations are at present. Well,
all the curtain and tidy and furniture
decoration laces used in this city
ought to (and will, l hope, some day.
be produced in New York and the
surrounding cities"
"Do you have as many New York
women as strangers for pupils ?''
"Oh yes, great many more, but
the older women and the very young
girls of the city do not come for les
sons as often as those in the prime of
life-say from % to IS years of age.
These also begin with the coarse
laces, but soon turn to the finer kinds
when they discover how easily it is
made"
| asked Nine. Carter TO show me
somo of the laces made by her pupils.
She promptly spread before me spec
linens of coarse curtain and house
decoration laces in Brussels, Maltese,
old Flemish, duchesse aud old Italian
laces. They were certainly very
handsome and effective and appar.
emily very strong Nine Carter as
sured me that they would wear ont
100 sets of curtains of stuff that
would last two years, aud that, more.
over, they would not require laundry |
ing but about five times in the 200 |
years. This laundrying, of course, to
be done by an expert in the handling
of laces.
/ asked Nine. Carter if she intend. |
ed keeping up her school next winter.
"Of course" was the answer, II |
should be teaching now, except tn at
l must have some time for rest and |
for recuperation, and for designing
new patterns, and deciding about the |
the new stitches that l shall teach /
next winter. | shall introduce the |
old point gaze stitches next season I
into my designs for curtain aud fur /
niture decoration laces. Point gaze