The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1883-10-03
The Daily Bulletin.
ENTERED AT THE CAIRO PosToFFICE FOR
TRANSMISSION THROUGH THE MAILS AT
SECOND CLASS RATES.
The Art Of Patching

AT Aberdeen, scotland lnoTe was
held recently one Of those exhibitions,
half market and half museum, in which
the soul of the canny Scot delights
There was u display of the conquests OF
Scottish housewifery over the accidents
that befall apparel; in other words, a
ton of skllful work in patching and
darning. Your Scot likes 10 have his
attire of the best material and the
women believe in woolcns that will
hold water and silks that will stand
without assistance. Then, when the
garment is made, it is expected to last
almost q lifetime, and an accidental
rent is regarded rs something that calls
for repair and not for renewal, Here,
accordingly, Is shown an India shawl
in which long slit had been burned,
Skllful hands have worked carefully
over the fabric, and so faithfully has
the pattern been followed that ut dis
lance of q yard the place where the
shawl was darned could not be discover
ed. 3 fine swalow-tail coat, in the skirt Of
which an obtrusive nail had made
havoc, has square patch so deftiy in
serted as to be invisible save to the
keenest vision. Costly silken hose in
elaborate patterns, darned in a hundred
places, defy the closest inspection Of
the curious who desire to find where
the holes really were, So in hundreds
OF diverse instances displayed in this ex-
hibition the genius OF Aberdeen house
wives for economy has enabled them to
rescue from the ragbag valuable mate
rial whose defects might be hidden on
ly by deXterous patching. They cult
va'e this art rs an incidental develop
ment of the same native Shrewdness
that prevents their husbands and broth
eys from rushing hastily into an impor-
tant enterprise and makes the thrifty
Scot an eXemplar of proydent yet not
ayaricious economy.
The great majority Of American
women do not believe in this sort OF
thing. If in all the multtudinous
county fairs that yearly possess our
land there should be set apart space
for the exhibition of darning or patch
iug there would scarcely be found any
one credulOus enough to believe that
entries of meritOriOus work Of this Kind
would be made. The matron of an
American household manages things far
differently. Whatever shows signs OF
wear, or is accidentally injured in out
ward appearance, is too often ruthlessly
consigned to the old-clothes heap, to be
exchanged ere many days for l0-cent
wash basin or shcet-irOn stew-pan.
So firmly fixed among American wo-
men has the lACUry become that hole
is better than patch, because one may
be the result of accident, while the
other is confession OF conscious par
simony, that you may see almost any
day on the streets young damsels, ma
ture matrons aye, and gray-haired
grandmothers as well--whose silken at
tire on close inspection displays tell
tale raggedness here or there, which
speaks in mute eloquence of common
carolessness. To these women, be they
vivacious or demure, gracious or ascot
ic, darned spot is condemned in its
existence even as the blood on the gull
ty fingers of Macbeth's wife, while
patch is dreaded as though it were
flaming bar sinister, telling of unspeak-
able disgrace
The essential unsoundness of these
opinions, not only when held by the
genller sex with regard TO the humble
patch, but also when applied 10 that
array Of small economies by which the
frugal-mnded increase their store
without decrease Of comfort, is appar-
ent when they are considered with ref
erence either to immediate or prospect
i've good. When achievement takes the
place of carclessness there is ALWAYS
gain to the individual. The future has
something certain and tangible in store,
too, for those who waste not. There
has taken root in the American con
seriousness a general conviction that in
dependence Of fortune can only be Sc
cured by some grand stroke, some bril-
liant conception which at once discloses
how the flower ease may be suddenly
pluck ID from the nettle toll. So fatal
an error deserves only to be cast out,
root and branch. To save, steadily,
persistently, and with self-denial, win
do better for the master Of an American
home than TO live up to his income, eX.
pecting meanwhile that some scheme
will be hit upon that will bring returns
unparalleled. And the American house
wife may amply commend her own
judgment if, in studying the manifold
phases Of household economy, she im-
tates the example of the Aberdeen
women, who have put into such skillful
practice the despsed science Of patch
ing.