The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-01-19
Skillful Needlework.
WHAT WONDERFUL THINGS HAVE BEEN AC
COMPLISHED BY WOMEN

/ WHAT WONDERFUL THINGS HAVE BEEN AC
CoMPLIsHED BY WOMEN
When one contemplates the results obtained
by the sklllful use of the needle and threat
they are lost in wonder and admiration
whether the result be displayed in an EN-
brOidered handkerchief a transparent dress
or an elaborate piece of tapestry. II one coulC
trace the history ST thread-and BY this tern
is meant the strand employed in sewing, lace
| work. or embroidery, whether the material be
| OF silk, linen, cotton, or woOl--they would
find it tull of interest Indeed nothing could
be more interesting than the history of the
turning of the little plant of the field, with its
| pretty blue flower, into threads OF cobweh
fneness so delicate in texture and fair in color
| as TO become worthy Of forming into wells and
dresses of such priceless value that only SOW
ereigns may wear them or the wonderful dis
coyery OF the mysterious secrets of the silk
worms cocoon; or the fieecy softness and re-
markable adaptability OF the shaggy coat OF
the sheep or the thousands OF miles Of snowy
cord, which for so many years were hidden
away In The tiny recesses of the cotton ball.
SEWING BEGAN WITH THE FIRST WOMAN,
Eve sewed fig leaves together in the Garden
of Eden, but il is snet mentioned whether
her needle was Of shining steel, or of
bone, or of gold, or whether she used a
silken or t1axen thread-only that she
sewed. The anclents were familiar with
the use OF the needle. In the description
given in Exodus of the hangings for the gate
of the Court of the Tabernacle 1t is recorded
they were Of needle-work of blue and purple,
and scarlet, and fine twined linen, and the gar
ments for the priests were Of blue and purple,
and scarlet, and gold was beaten into thin
plates and cut into fine Wire, to work it into
10 hlua and tbn puyrlp and bac ria md
in the fine linen with cunning work" This
shows that the needle and thread and the art
OF embroidery were not only known to the
Jews at that time, but in a very high degree of
perfection,
THERE ARE so MANY BEAUTIFUL THINGS
formed by the needle in deft hands that to
mention even part of them would require a
volume, but there are some of such exquisite
finish and design 1t seems fitting to mention
them Take the article of lace alone A skill
full artists stretches piece of canvas across a
Frame and with his brush and coors depicts a
face and form so perfect i'll all its parts and so
lifelike 1t seem TO live breathe, and speak to
us from the canvass. This is very wonderful,
but far more wonderful are the results obtain
ed by the def fingers of the lacemaker Elk
quisitely beautiful designs are wrought upon
a ground of gossamer lightness, and flowers
and leaves, and ferns and grasses, stems and
tendrils appear one by one, so graceful and
natural in form as to rival nature itself in
beauty. So intricate are the patterns and so
tine is the work that years are sometimes re-
CURED to finish one article.
THERE WAS DRESS OF POINT D ALENCoN LACE
exhibited at the Paris exhibition of 1867,
which cost 50, 900 francs and required forty
women to labor for seven years TO complete
it. Hood in his Song of the Shirt gives
mournful picture of weary women with her
endless stitch, stitch, stitch. While his pic
ture is true one and many counterparts may
be found to it, there is brighter one and
one which cannot too often be held up to the
sex. Women is so constituted that she must
have employment for mind or hands, and for
every woman found who has been made
wretched by the use of the needle two can be
found to whom it has proved priceless boon
Who can estimate the number of hours which /
would have been lIstless, weary hours, filled
with ennui and sadness, without employment
but which have flown on swallows wings
while the hands and hearts were engaged in |
making some pretty trifie or useful
GARMENT FOR SOME LOVED ONE:
A busy women is not often an unhappy wo- |
man, and if the daughters of wealth and |
iashion-Who do not always have the mind to
cultiyate-would cultivate the fingers more,
there would be more real happiness in their
daily life and less danger surrounding them
By some the present time is reckoned as the /
embroidery craze, and it is rather the fashion
TO attend Schools OF design t,.-l To learn the
of long stitch, short stitch and use
full and useless articles of such work multiply |
in every household. But to attempt to com
pare the industry of the present generation
with the industry of our grandmothers would /
be as near right as to compare the industry I
~ I'm hnn vtYJfh hot ~
specimens of the handiwork OF former gener-
erations which have been retained in families
rs precious herlooms speak for themselves
and show what can be accomplished by the
needle. | have before me now
A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE WORKED BY A YOUNG
LADY
in Philadelphia at the beginning of the present
century. The following description will give
some idea of what amount of labor time, and
care were required to finish it: The whole
picture including narrow frame, is forty two
inches by thirty-siX inches in size. The en-
broiderv is all done in floss SILK upon white
satin. The scene is rural one and represents
a matched cottage shaded by tall forest trees,
a luxurlant vine climbing up one side of the
house, an open window, and mother hen in
a wicker coop outside, with her brood around
her, proclaim that it is spring time. Upon the
grassy lawn in front Of the house the family
are assembled watching the gambols of lamb
and its mother. Every part of it is done with
the needle, except the faces and the sky which
are painted on the satin. One little item of
history connected with this picture is quite
When it was completed there
was no glass to be purchased in this country
large enough to cover it and the young ladys |
father was obliged to send to England for
glass to cover it, A lady residing in England |
foJ
broidered pictures. During her life she made
sixty four Of them, and nearly all Of gallery
size. She commenced at the age of thirteen
and continued until she was seventy eight,
and had no assistance except some one to
thread her needles after her sight became i'm
paired. Some of the pictures were copies of
celebrated paintings by the old masters. The
gem of the collection-Salvator Mundi, after
Carlo Dolci = was bequethed to Queen
Victoria.
Communication.
lKessrs Editors VoHey Vvyinian
Having been victimized recently, as think,
in the matter of some fruit trees forced upon |
me by a Richmond nursery firm wish through
you, in the first place, to put my fellow farmers
on their guard against similar imposition,
If it be one, and, in the next place am in
quest of information.
Many of the trees referred to are infested,
upon the roots, with an insect resembling
speck of mould, perhaps of the aphis family,
and the roots themselves are hut knotty ex
brittle as pipe stems, and totally !
destitute of fibrous roots. In other cases the
disease has not progressed so far, and there
are some fibrous roots
clearly proved by three reliable witnesses
that such trees were diseased, but strange as
. In, rot, iIo, lapt
against me.
Now for the information sought Am | cor
rect in claiming that such trees are diseased,
or is the nurseryman correct who insists that |