Daily Yellowstone journal., 1884-02-09
BEAUTY IN HOMeSPuN.
what southern Women Wore ssriug
the Wnr.-.Curious Makeshifts I'm.
p!Syed In COntriying Costumes.


p'Syed In Co1triying Costumes.
MARY W. Early in philadelphia Times.l
Several histories and nrmberless
sketches have been written describing
the military straits TO which our men
W, re brought during the late war. but
I do not know of any chronicler who las
d pictcd the straits FIR clothes 10 which
the women ald girls OF the southern
ConfedelHcy W re reduced during the
blockade Dur dry goods merchants
had "a ur tty good stock on hand at the
opening of the var. and this, with ne
SUPPL We hal ourselves, enabled us to
sc Oh wtlou, pressing Inconvenience
for tie first year of the war. Then we
resuIrec:el IRON old chests agd closets
all the hcirlooms We could ind in the
shape # ancient garments belonging to
our !uo,hers and our granlmothers,
in which We locked very much
like set of grown.up kate Greena-
way" figures We began also to resort
freely tn the dyer. feeling the force Of
Golilsmitl's line. slightly altered
"1hc only refuge is TO dive" Fortunate
IL there was a wooden factory in Rich.
mond during the war the Crensliaw
mills that tarred ont very soft. good
wooden cloth. There was also one,
believe. at Scottsville, little town
seventy miles from Richmond. on the
James river and ksnawha canal, and
one at Bnusack's, in southeastern Nir.
ginia. These two latter factories,
though they by no means furnished
dainty iahrics. we're still of great assist.
ance in clothing the people Of Virginia
There we're several cotton cloth iacto.
ries in operation in North Carolina
during the war. and from these we
drew large part'of the cotton cloth
used in Virginia then.
In the country We had to resort TO the
loom, which ON all Old Virginia planta
tions was nSe'l for supplying the negroes
partially. il not entirely with clothing.
Eldcrl y negro women were set apart to
spin and weave for the others. They
carried on their work generally in a
cellar. their wild. sweet. mournful
HYMNS mingling with the sound OF the
shuttle or the monotonous hum Of the
wheel. II was not music OF so high an
order AZ Schubert's or Gounod's spin.
ming. wheel Song. but it had a distinctive
character and charm Of its own, and
was filled with weird and plaintive
sweetness. the like OF which have
never heard except in the singing of to.
bacco factory hands. During the war
homespun dresses we're good
deal used by the Virginia country
ladies' for everyday wear, and have
seen some Of these dresss that looked
really pretty and jaunty on fresh young
girls. The dyes las well Is the cloth,
were q home production. Ivy leaves.
set with alum, made q pretty gray
sumac leaves and chinquapin bark made
black: maple bark made bright pur.
pie, and beech bark made green dye.
Speaking of homespun reminds me OF
0 homespun ball given by one of the
Richmond bellies, not during the war,
o. some might reasonably suppose, but
q year or two before. and said to he one
Of the most charming and successful
entertainments ever given in Richmond.
On this occasion all the young ladies'
appeared in costumes Of homespun,
made up in hundred pretty, fanciful
and picturesque styles.
The men Of the Confederacy. those In
the army, at least, Jared much better
with respect to clothes than the women
did, the government providing then
with uniforms imported from abroad
through the blockade. Occasionally
too, Q omen would get Q prize in thl
shape Of q trunk or Q box Of new
clothes struggled through the blockade
in which case her toilet would be ths
envy and admiration Of all her feminine
friends. Persons who had friends Of
relatives in Baltimore, Philadelphia Of
other northern cities would sometimes
be favored with . box of store clothes.
I remember such box being sent from
Philadelphia 10 acquaintances OF min,
in Richmond, who became, in conse
quence, "the glass Of fashion and th,
mould Of form" A plaid ribbon il
this box was lent by turns 10 variou
friends, who looked on il ss rare an,
dainty ornament. something almos
equal TO the ribbon Of the order Of th'
garter. The writer wore IL 10 IN ele
CANT entertainment in Rich mond III,
last winter of tho war