, 1880-01-18

, becausewhen; the French stocktno q.
guild made choice Of patron s,,a
selected St. Fiacre, a native Of scoti,nss s ass
the other hand, the English atttIbpta :. u
vention to Spaniard, on the stfenef5 ta ss
tradition that Henry:VII., who haS a& !. d
fore worn woolen-cloth stockinps. as1eta+
about 1880, ga pair of silk knit stssa' s4sa
from SPAIN" Queen Elizabeth hss.
wear silk knit stockings in thethina saa Ssaa b
her reign (1561), a pair having been ohtst i
for her. by her silk-woman. Tha FsSsaf4 nr%~!as9
ton is that she had small feet aid Va, ssas t.a
/, Gus about clothing them, for she 3acssss tss;sa'
wear any other kind than silk. Il is n.y.
probable that she displayed ler si,tS..as
inged feet to the best advantage dn-;," ef'
flirtat1ons with Sir Walter Raleigh. FanT a9
she wore fine pair when she sirna5 ~ =
.death-warrant Of her beautiful riyal w. "a
Stuart. S5
There is tradition Of very old wr..
who embraced the occupation Of tn;... tt4aa
when her sight became so bad as "a .rsrs.s
her incapable Of sewing or embroidery ns
''mitting work " was constantly in bsTh h.ss NJ
and this maxim on her tongue: "NeTe- :.
pray--to be fond of walking-to stand ott.s !"
at the window and before the lookinee1,ss ~
to ta1k much and do uttle-is not M rNr,
the way to be rich" ::...;;;- :>-
An antiquary Of note thinks that tbp ~ =,
knitting was derived from that Of wirp.vn,s .a
ing. In the sixteenth century the v;,s
workers were SO cunning in making xrpss.
that the ignorant believed they had III &
sistance Of the Devil. 4 screen it lin NJ
which surrounds the baptismal-font Of ~
old church in Germany is SO ineenior.s
wrought that neither the beginning nos9:k b.
end of the wire is discernible. For LONE tin,
stockings continued to be knit chiefly h.
hand, Notwithstanding the invention Of ,
stocking loom, and the stocking Of silk VA
costly affair, worn, Of course, only ty u
great. In 1859 a German Priyy- CouQln,ih,
was rebuked by the 1fargraye for Eea,h,
silk stockings on ordinary occasions: ,adjio
1875 the consort Of Prince refused ii,
received as d Christmas gift, beeaass sSs
considered them '*too gay.": In I@ qna
William Lee, Of England, invented statt.
ing-1oom- It was described at the; tine Il
"composed of above 1000 pieces Of smith.
ioiner's, and timers work, after 50 arfdthI
and exact manner that, by tha tads.
nlent Of all beho1ders, it far : e1o|,
in the ingenuity, curiosity, and subtletIa
the invention and conjecture all other frans
or instruments Of manufacture in use IN uy
part Of the known world" Following 18th
tradition in regard to the origin Of this hza
great work: Lee was enamored Of a yuuns
countIy-girl, who, during his risitg, Ea
more attention to her knitting than to ha
lover and his proposals. Hence be, pit BIZ
wits to work to devise a machine waiA
would facilitate the operation Of knitting,
and so afford more leisure for the object d
his passion to converse with him. Whette
Lee married the country-girl who insptna
him is not known. When it Is considered
that Queen Elizabeth was inordinatelY @aa
Of silk stockings, her treatment Of Lee mps
be regarded as shabby. She praised lms b.
genufty, but declined to grant patent. tat
the invention. At the request Of Henry II,
Of France Lee went to Paris with bis nj:
chine, but, the King being soon after asssa
mated, the poor inventor fell into great x,as
and distress, and died a pauper in the Feath
Capital. It was not until 1868 that the stut.
ing-loom, 80 to speak, got upon its teet'y 1t
that year charter was granted by chatla
H.: to the Framework-Knitters' SocteH,M
London. In six years thereafter tharaxera
700 stocking-frames in England. n l7A
there were 1900 frames in operation, and la
1153, 14,ooo. y" ~"; '', '''',.... ,~.t..' <.'''
About fifty years ago power was applied 70
the improved Lee knitting-machine Ii this
country. This application Of steam tranS-
ferred the industry from the tireside To- ha
factory, and gave an immense impetus to he
hosiery manufacture. Formerly, with De
hand-frame, a workman could produce ina
week dozen pairs of cotton hose 1n tie
same time now a first-class rotary round
power-frame will turn out 200 dozen fpal1
There is an ingenious little hand knitting
machine, smaller than its companion taa
sewing-machine, which will knit all kinds o.
hosiery, gloves, mittens, scarfs, hoods; 1set.
cts, shawls, cardigans, clouds, and nuplas'- :"