The Portland daily press., 1883-03-06
The Science of PATCHING

At Aberdeen, Scotland, there was held re-
Gently one of those exhibitions, half market.
and half museum, in which the soul of the
canny Scot delights. There was display of
the conquests of Scottish housewifery over
the accidents that befall apparel; In other
words, department. was devoted to the ex-
hibition of skilful work in patching and
darning. Your Scot likes to have his attire
OF the best material, and the women believe
in woolens that will hold water and silks
that will stand without assistance. Then.
when the garment is made. it is expected to
last about lifetime, and an accidental rent
is regarded as something that calls for re-
pair and not renewal. Here, accordingly
is shown an India shawl in which a long
slit has been burned. Skilful hands have
worked carefully over the fabric, and so
faithfully has the pattern been followed that
at the distance of ya,d the place where
the shawl was darned could not be discov-
cred. A swallo ~-tailed coat, in the skirt Of
which an obtrusive nail had made havoc.
has square patch SO deity inserted as to
be invisible save to the keenest vision. Cost
ly silken hose in elaborate patterns, darned
in hundred places, defy the closest inspec
ton of the curious who desire to find where
the holes really were. So in hundreds of di
verse instances displayed in this exhibition
the genius OF Aberdeen housewives for econ
0my has enabled them to rescue from the rao-
bag valuable material whose defects might
be hidden only by dexterous patching
They cultivate this art as an incd ntal de-
velopment of. the same native shrewdness
that prevents their husbands and brothers
from rushing hastily into any important en-
terprise, and makes tie thrifty Scot an en-
emplar OF provident yet not avaricious econ
omy.
The great majority of American women
do not believe in this sort of thing. If in
all the multitudinous county fairs that year
ly possess the land there should be set apart
space for exhibitions of darning and
patching, there would scarcely be found anv
one credulous enough to believe that entries
of meritorious work of this kind would be
made. The matron of an American house
hold manages affairs far differently. What
ever shows signs of wear, or is accidentally
injured in outward appearance, is too often
ruthlessly consigned to the old clothes h .ap.
to be exchanged ere many days for a 10 cent
wash basin or a sheet-iron stew-pap. 80
firmly fixed among American women has the
theory become that hole is better than a
patch, because one may be the result of ac-
cident, while the other is confession of
conscious parsimony, that you NAV see al
most any day on the streets young damsels.
mature matrons, aye, and gray-haired grand
mothers as well, whose silken attire on close
inspection displays a tell-tale raggedDess
here and there, which speaks in mute elo
quence OF a common carelessness. To these
ha thpV ViVacinug
cious or aesthetic, darued spot is con-
demned in its existence even as the blood on
the guilty fingers Of Macbeth's wife, while
patch is dreaded as though it were flaming
bar sinister, telling of unspeakable disgrace.
The essential unsoundness OF these opiI-
ions, not only when held by the gentler sex
wita regard to the humble patch. but also
when applied to that array of small econo-
mics by which the frugal minded Increase
their store without decrease of comfort, is
apparent when they are considered with ref
erence either to immediate or prospective
good. When achievement takes the place of
carelessness there is always gain to the indi-
vdual. The future has something certain
and tangible in store, LOO, for those who
waste not. There has taken root ia the
American consciousness general conyic-
ton that independence of fortune can only
be secured by some grand stroke, some bril-
liant conception, which at once discloses
how the flower, ease, may be suddenly
pucked from the nettle, toll. Such an error
deserves only TO be cast out, root and branch.
To save, steadily, persistently and with self
denial, will be better for the master of an
American home than to live up to his in
come, expecting meanwhile that some
scheme will be hit upon that will oring re-
turns unparalleled. And the American
housewife may amply commend her own
judgment if, in studying the manifold
phases of household economy, she initiates
the example Of the Aberdeen women, who
have put into such skilful practice the sci
ence of patching.