Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1886-09-16
SAVANNAH TENNESSEE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER Is, 1885,
THE CITY OF LACES.
Glance at the, Industry of the Old
Town OF Nottingham.

THE CITY OF LACES.
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
find a dozen or SO pert, shrewd men
of leisure, of good breeding and appar-f
ent fortune, among your companions
or fellow-voyagers, going directly to
Nottingham, Notts, Eng, to buy laces. /
Every great New York house IN this
line sends out special purchaser an
nually, l remember crossing over with
man who was making his twenty
sixth voyage. The voyage was made
notable and was subject of comment
because 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 may please. any. one who
makes SO many as acknowledgements
on that line. 90. 2 81 est.
And these,lace buyers get large sal
aries. From some sufficient reason
they must not only be shrewd and well
informed men, but they are supposed
to be gentlemen. Some of the great
houses keep resident purchasers in
Nottingham. The trade is something
colossal For here you buy not only
all kinds of English lace, but you buy
French lace, Spanish lace and Vene-
tian 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.3 The
fraud, if fraudsit is, occurs on this side.
Nothing in the history of all the in
dustries of the eearth 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
I-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, 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 construction. 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 OF con-
| quest, these cave dwellers would re-
treat underground and defy pursuit.
1t is thelboast 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
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 Newstead Abbey underground. And
this you can readily understand, 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,
The weaving of laces came abou,
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 ii
Western Europe. And then their i'm
munity from conquest and consequent
uninterruption in their peculiar in
dustry fastened it here and kept it wei
forward.
The crusaders--brave old savages
you see their crude ef1igies In ston'
lying cross-legged in any one of tn,
forty or fifty little churches you dis
cover scattered over the valley of th,
Trent as you stand on the summit o
the sandstone hills here-these mel
of the sword brought back NOR
signs of higher civilization thai
plowing and reaping implements
they brought back, among othe
things, Venetian lace, French an,
Spanish. And it was then that thes
A weayers at the mouths ofposves begal
4 to make Vepetian lace and Spanisl
lace, and,so on, for Che ladies, and gen
tlemen, too, at court. So, you see
this industry here has a solid founda
ton. There are lace-makers in Not
tingham who claim that their ancestor
of thousand yeals ago were lace
makers there on the sandstone bank
of the Trent.
OF course, every thing now is don
by machinery here. As you approac
/ this city on a hill you see thousands c
lofty chimneys A cloud of smoke an
steam, not heavy and offensive, lik
Birmingham or Manchester, however
hangs perpetually over this yer
: wealthy and most prosperous city c
lace-makers. As you get out of tn
, car. you see lowering about the station
or passing about here and there, man
and many black-eyed girl, making
aperilous stopping place for a Cal
| fornian with heart in him. They ar
T lace-makers and their numbers reac
, to nearly hundred thousand. The
: are beautiful to a degree. They hav
g dark. and wondrously brilliant eye,
3 They are children of the ancient an
r mconquered black Britons, who wade
E into the sea to receive the invadin
70 Romans on their lances. .--Joaquin Nj