Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-01-30

in India, and the spinsters of Ireland use
wheel very similar in construction, though
somewhat larg"r.
With the introduction of the factory sys-
tem however, weaving ceased to be do
nestle employment, and the jacquard
loom and other automatic machines, with
the auxiliary steam power, now perform in
a single mill the work of many thousands
of human hands. The Indians of South
America take up each thread by the hand
and pass three years in weaving ham
mock Years have been spent in weaving
a Panama hat. The cloth now manufact-
ured in single district of England by
212, 600 people would, under the old sys
TEN, require 67.000,000 operatives, or nearly
three times more than the whole kingdom
contains.
Silk, cotton wool, fax and asbestos have
been used since the earliest times of which
we have record, and it would require many
chapters to describe the changes they have
undergone. The origin of the elaborate
network of gold, silver, flax or cotton that
constitutes the transparent texture we call
lace is unknown. 1t is claimed by both
Italy and Flanders as IA production of the
Fifteenth century, but delicate needle
work is found in church furniture of
much older date. The laces of Venice,
Milan and Genoa were formerly the best
known in the commercial world. Later
the Flemish laces, the Brussels point and
the Mechln rivaed the best of the Italian.
The famous Alencon lace was Introduced
by the minister of Louis Nv of France in
1866, but its high price limited its Use to
the rich PILLOW Lace is so termed from
the pillow or cushion which is used in its
fabrication, the designs being prepared on
parchment by persons who devote them
selves to this branch. la Brussels $1,000
women are employed in lace making, the
majority of whom work at home Very
many of the lace schools are in the con-
vents.
The extraordinary fineness of some of the
threads is obtained by spinning them in
dark underground rooms, where dry air is
avoided and the best light is secured,
which is done by admitting a single beam
and directing it upon the work. Brussels
lace has been sold as high as 81, 800 pound.
The point d Alencon has been styled 1.-The
queen of lace" and owing to the delicacy
of its construction is seldom seen in large
pieces. At the French exposition of 1867
two founces and trimmings of this ma
terial were exhibited, the price of which
was So 600 francs. 1t occupied the labor Of
represented in the portraits painted by
Vandyke in the time of Charles | is
Brussels point. The lloniton lace of Eng
land is pillow lace, but it is rivaled by
the Limerick lace, which is peculiar to
Ireland, and valuable source of industry
to that country.
From the foregoing sketch of the origin
and progress of some of the industrial arts
/ connected with home labor one may easily
| infer why several of the wealthy ladies OF
/ Great Britain, including its queen, seek to
encourage a return to the old fashioned
hand methods for the production of fab
RIGS in common as well as aristocratc use
and thus reopen avenues for the employ
ment of women and children who are now
debarred by the innovations of machinery
from earning livelihood in the fields once
occupied by their ancestors.
+. G. DE FoNTAINE.