Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-09-16
THE CITY OF LAcEs.
4 Glance at the Industry Of the q
Town Of Nottinghaxn. =.

Glance at tho Industry Of the Old
Town Of Nottinghsna. :; Z. S
Should you sail out Of the Bay %
New York for Liverpool, yous wonld
End dozen or SO pert, shrcwd men
Of leisure, Of. good breeding and, appar-
emit fortune, am6ng your eompanions
or feflow-voyagers, going directly to
Nottingham, Motifs, Eng, to buy laces.
Every great New York house IN this
line sends out special purchaser. an
Inuaily. l remember crossing over with
a man who was making his twenty
sixth voyage. The voyage. was. made
notable and was a subject of fconNalt
Ibeeatssci this time he was going over
free of cost, it being the custom of the
ships company to carry. free and d
'3fsan add Inlay please my one who
makes SO many as twenty-five voyages
on that line. -.
eHqd these lace buyers get large sal.
iarieS From some. sufficient /; reason
Nhey mAst hot only be slrewd and well
informed men, but they are supposed
to be gentlemen. Some of the great
houses keep resident purchasers in
Nottin CHAM. The trade is something
colossal For here you buy not only
all kinds Of English, iace,- but ouabuy
French lace, Spanish lace and Vene-
,tian@ lace, and there is no deception
about the. sale of Jit thereaat,allasT The
Government of England would. not &f.
low. that But these goods are .madc
in imitation Of Venetian, : Spanish OF
French laces and are, So sold. The
fraud, ffraud it is, occurs on this side.
=. Nothing in the history of all the in
dustries Of the earth is more curious or
notable than the foundation of this
tremendous business here in what was
once the home of Robin Hood. and
where his games were celebrated for
centuries after his death; and, indeed,
till suppressed, because of their increas-
ing violence, by the Government. This
great industry here began in this way.
There is, or was originally, a long,
high bank of very soft sandstone on
the north bank of the river Trent,
pointing to the sun. In the soft sand
stone the early Britons dug caves.
They dug them deep and wide. and
wonderful in constructions. 1t is said
that even now the city of caves under
the ground is almost as large as the
broad and populous city on top of the
ground. In case of invasion or con.
quest, these cave jewellers would re-
treat underground and defy pursuit.
Itis the boast of the people OF Noting
ham that their ancestors were never
really conquered. by any one. 1t is
said that William the Conqueror even
diverted the Trent and threw it against
the. mouths of these caves, trying to
drown them out like rats. But they
remained in their caves all the time
secure. And whether the story is true
or not the Trent still flows in an
old and artificial channel, when
its waters are high, close along
the base of the great sandstone
which to this day is pierced
with holes that are. said to be endless.
It is even claimed that YOU may make
your way all the distance of four miles
to Newstead Abbey underground: And
this you can readiiEunderstand, is why
Robin Hood and his. ,.merrie. good
men, were enabled to die in their beds,
or, rather, in their caves, instead of ON
the gallows. So 80 =. -
The weaving of laces came about
here in this way: The half or. wholly
savage women sitting at the mouths
of the caves and holding their threads
against the sun with the darkness be-
hind them, could see the fine. threads
better: and so could do finer .and bet
ter work than any other women In
Western Europe. And then their: I'M
nlunity from conquest and consequent
in their peculiar in
dustry fastened il here and kept; it well
- : -. - 'fSlifsrs:'r.
The crusaders-brave old sayagts,
you see, their crude effigies N: stone
lying cross-legged in any one, Of che
forty or fifty little churches: yau, dis. i
cover scattered, over the valley Of, the
Trent as You stand on the snmmit;of1
the sandstone hills here-these; men
Of the sword brought rback more
signs, of a higher. civilization than
blowing aad4N reaping implements;
they brought back, samionS ifother
things. Venetian lace, fFreiicK and
Spanish And it was then that these
the mouths of,eayes began
to make Venetian lace and Spanish
ACE, and SO. on for the ladies, and gen
tlemeh,'... too. at Court. SO, you see,
This industry here hasa solid founda-
-ion.:: There are. laca-makcrs in Not
bingham who claim that their ancestors
Of a tlrDusand ,yeals. ago were lace
ma ISerS fhora on tho Sondcfr,,r, ,.1;o,,l-si