Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-09-10
miscellaneous.
The City of Laces-
A GLANCE AT THE INDUSTRY OF THE OLD
Town OF NOTTINGHAM.

A GLANCE AT THE INDUSTRY OF THE OLD
Town OF NOTTINGHAM.
Should YOU sail out of the bay of New
York for Liverpool, you would ind
dozen or so pert, shrewd men OF leisure,
good breeding and apparent fortune,
among your companions or fellow voyag-
ers, going directly to Nottingham, NOUS.
Eng, to buy laces. Every great New
York house in this line sends out special
purchaser annually. / remember cross
| ing over with man who was making MS
26Ih voyage The voyage was made not
able and was subject of comment be-
cause this time he was going over free OF
cost, it being the custom OF the ships
company to carry free and as often as he
NAV please any one who makes so many
as % voyages on that line.
And these lace buyers get large salaries.
From some sufficient reason they must
not only be shrewd and well informed
men, but they are supposed to be gentle
men. Some of the great houses keep res
ident purchasers in Nottingham. The
trade is something colossal. For there
YOU buy not only all kinds of English
lace, but you buy French lace, Spanish
lace and Venetian lace. and there is no
deception about the sale OF it there at all.
The government of England would not al
low that. But these goods are made in
imitation of Venetian, Spanish or French
laces and are so sold. The fraud, If fraud
it is, occurs on this side.
Nothing in the history of all the indus
tries of the earth is more curious or nota-
BILE than the foundation of this tremen-
dous 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 increasing violence, by
the government. This great industry
here began in this way.
There is, or was originally, long. high
bank of very soft sandstone on the north
bank of the river Trent, pointing to the
sun. In the soft sandstone the early Brit
ons dug caves. They dug them deep and
wide, and wonderful in construction. 1t
is said that even now the city of caves un.
der the ground is almost as large as the
broad and populous city on top of the
ground. In case OF invasion or conquest,
these cave jewellers would retreat under
ground and defy pursuit. 1t is the boast
of the people Of Nottingham that their an
cestors 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 the 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 ar
tificial channel, when its waters are high,
close along the base of the great sandstone
mountain, which to this day is pierced
with holes that are said to be endless 1t
is even claimed that you may make your
way all the distance of four miles to New
stead Abbey underground. And this you
can readily understand, is why Robin
Hood and his "merre good men" were
enabled to die in their beds, or, rather, in
their caves, instead of on the gallows.
The weaving of laces came about here
in this way: The half or wholly savage
womea sitting at the mouths of the caves
and holding their threads against the sun
with the darkness behind them, could see
the fine threads better. and so could do
finer and better work than any other
women in Western Europe. And then
their immunity from conquest and conse-
quent uninterruption in their peculiar in
dustrv fastened it here and kept it we'll
forward.
The crusaders-brave old savages, you
see their crude effigies in stone lying
cross-legged in any one of the forty or
fifty little churches you discover scattered
over the valley of the Trent as you stand
on the summit of the sandstone hills here
these men of the sword brought back
more signs of higher civilization than
blowing and reaping implements; they
brought back, among other things, Vene-
tan lace, French and Spanish. And it
was then that these weavers at the mouths
of caves began to make Venetian lace and
Spanish lace, and so on, for the ladies', and
gentlemen. too, at court. So, you see.
this industry here has a solid foundation.
There are lace-makers in Nottingham who
claim that their ancestors OF thou
sand years ago were lace makers there on
the sandstone banks of the Trent.
OF course. everything now is done by
machinery here. AS you approach this
city on a hill you see thousands of lofty
chimneys. A cloud of smoke and steam.
not heavy and offensive like Birmingham
or Manchester. however, hangs perpetu-
ally over this very wealthy and most pros
porous city of lace makers. AS you get
out of the car, you see lowering about the
station. or passing about here and there.
many and many a black eyed girl, making
it a perilous stopping place for Califor-
MAN with heart in him. They are lace
makers. and their numbers reach to near.
" hundred thousand They are beauti-
full to degree. They have dark and
wondrously brilliant eyes. They are
children of the ancient and unconquered
black Britons. who waded into the sea to
receive the invading Romans on their
ances.--Joaquin Miller in N. Y. Indepen.
dent.