The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1883-03-17
The Science Of Patching.

d .
AT Aberdeen, Scotland, there was
held recently 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
that befall apparel; in other words.
department was devoted to the exhibit
ton of skillful work in patching and
darning. Your Scot likes to have his
attire Of the best material, and the wom-
en- believe in woolens that will hold
water and silks that will stand without
assis tance.N Then, when the garment is
made. 1T is expected to last almost a
lifetime, and an accidental rent is re-
garded as something that calls for re-
pair and not renewal. Here, accord
| ingly, is shown an India shawl in which
long slit has been burned Skilllul
hands have worked carefully over the
fabric, and so faithfully has the pattern
been followed that at a distance of
yard the pace where the shawl was
darned could not be discovered. A fine
swallow-tail coat, in the skirt of which
an obtrusive nail had made havoc, has a
square patch so deity inserted as to be
invisible save TO. the. keenest vision
Costly silken hose in elaborate patterns,
darned in hundred places, defy the
closest inspection of the curious who de-
sire to find where the holes rea ly were
| So in hundreds of diverse instances dis.
played in this exhibition the genius of
Aberdeen housewives for economy has
enabled them to rescue from the rag
bag valuable material whose defects
might be hidden only by deXterous
patching They cultivate this art as an
| incidental development of the same ma
tive shrewdness that prevents their hus-
bands and brothers from rushing hasti-
ly into any important enterprise and
makes the thrifty Scot an eXemplar Of
provident yet not avaricious economy.
The great majority OF American wom-
en- do not believe IN this sort of thing.
If in all the multtudinous county fairs
that yearly possess the land there
should be set apart space for exhibit
tions OF darning or patching there
would scarcely be found any one cred
ulous enough to bel eve that entries of
meritorious work of this kind would be
made. The matron of an American
household manages affairs lar differently.
Whatever shows 5 GINS of wear, or is ac-
cidentalIv injured in outward appear
ance is too often ruthlessly consigned
to the old-clothes heap, to beeXchanged
ere many days for a ten-cent wash
basin or a sheet iron stew pan, So
firmly fixed among Ameri an women
has the theory become that a hole is
better than patch because one may
be the result of accident, while the other
is confession of conscious parsimony,
that you may see almost any day on the
streets Young damses, mature matrons,
aye and gray-haired grand mothers as
well. whose sill-en attire on close in
spection displays tell-ta raggedness
here or there, which speaks in mute
eloquence OF a common carelessness.
To these women, be they viyaeious OF
demure, gracious or ascetic, 'darned
spot is condemned in its existence
even as the blood on the guilty fingers
of Macbeth wife. while patch is
|, dreaded as though it were a flaming
bar sinister, telling of unspeakable dis
grace. .... r
The essential unsoundneSs of these
opinions, not only when held by the
gentler sex with regard to the hum le
: patch, but also when applied to that ar
/, ray OF small economies by which the
/, frugal-minded increase their store with
: out decrease of comfort is apparen
! when they are consi cred with refer
: ence either to immediate or prospective
goo /. When achievement takes th,
, place of carelessness there is always
! gain to the individual. The future hal
something certain and tangible in store
! too, for those who waste not. Their,
= = has ia ZEN root in the American con
9 9 seriousness general conviction that in
u dapandanna ~ fortuna can OnlV he az
), cured by some grand stroke, some brill
liant conception, M hich at once disclose
:, how the over, ease. may be suddenl,
!. plucked from the nettle, toll SD fata
|, an error deserves only to be cast out
: root and branch. To save steadily
= persisJeDtly an | with self enial will b
- better for the master OF an America
: home than to live up to his income, ex
= pee ing meanwhile that some schem
? will be hit upon that will bring return
= unparalleled. md the American house
: wife may amply commend her ow
!, Judgment If, in studying the manifol
: phases of household economy, she inn
!. tates the example of the Aber ee
Z women, who have put into such skillfr
e practice the edespsed science of patch
& Ing. -Ph,iadelplsd Hfeo,W.
Nj ~ - -
o. s4Kentucky must be a great grain
It grow NO State A local paper AYERS tha
It Mrs Corn lives in Mercer County, Mr.
e1 Wheat in Jefferson County, Mrs. Gate
n in Meade County, Mrs. Bran in Pendl'
/. ton County, Mrs Shorts in Shelb
County, and Miss Hay in Davies SouI
= ty,AaauhHi 80 --.aL-l --4LaH Wo..