The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-05-21

THE WARP AND WOOF.

THE WARP AND WOoF.
Many Curious Things That All Obscryins
BOY ~ Girl Would lind Interesting.
In one of the halls of tic Nationa
Museum nj Washington is an cxhibi
which shows the process Of weaving
from the bunch of rushcs, reeds. or ot
raw cotton or silk to the beautifully
| colorcd and tincly-woven goods that we
! know: from the silk thread Just from
| tic cocoon TO the piece of drcss.sills tina,
is picture in tho blending of its colors
We can see here step by step the max.
ing of baskets. hats. trays and mat
tings. both by Indian and Mexican,
from the rough reed or grass to that dc.
light Of every little girl, the perfectly.
finished basket. So fine and dainty that
II seems to be made by the fairies. The
mattings rival the silks in the fiaenes>
and smoothncss of texture The OBJ
serving girl or boy will he able to de-
tect the state of civilization, OF intelli-
gcnce. that any tribe or people have
reached by the specimens of their work
found here.
There arc bags woven in colorcd de-
signs by some of the Arizona Indians
that are marvellous when we remember
the work is all done by hand. from the
picking OF the grasses to the finished
bag, and that the tools are of the rudcst
kind and that the dyes used were used
without any knowledge of chemistry.
Il is interesting to trace the resem-
blances between the implements of war
Of some Of our Indian tribes and the
war implements of the Japanese
There are specimens here of the shields
carried by warriors that are woven of
reeds: they are symmetrical, and cx-
ceedingly strong, and meet the re-
quircmcnts of thei use: they offer re-
sistance to the weapons turned against
them. but would have no power against
the weapons of modern warfare of civ
iiized peoples.
1t is a sudden jump from the rude i'm
plements of warfare to the making Of
beautiful laces by the peasant women
OF Europe. and yet we are still In the
realm Of textiles. We can see the pat
tern on the piece Of black paper laid
over several pieces OF cotton cloth
traced ont by the first threads, the
threads Sc fine that they seem like IL
spiders web. We can trace every step
in the making of that beautiful rose.
which buds and leaves SO perfect that it
seems almost like skclctonized flower
1t is finished to applique ona piece of
vat I ~
lady's bonnet or baby's cap. Laces
from France. Italy. Belgium. are here
borders for handllerchiefs. lace for
fans, collar insertions, cdgings. flonnces.
all showing the wonderful skill and
patience of these people who have min
istered all unconscioIsly to the beauty
IF life. 1t seems pity that the art of
lacemalsing has died in many countries.
This is due Ia many causes. Handmade
lace could be owned only by the wealthy:
age added to its value. and old lace was
worth more than new. The first cost
was so great-though lacemakers have
always received the lowest prices for
their labor-that lace never was a
profitable Investment. 1t was perish
h'Ass stihi aN'h His'JsSt'a W tiI1
If fashion. 50 that ii did not have Il pei
manent or a gradually advancing change
of value: machinery was invented THAT
could produce an almost perfect imita,
ton Of the real lace, and ut last ma
chinery made such beautiful lace that
its products We're sold under their own
name. and had standard value. All
these causes have been slowly making
the hand-laec industry an industry of
the past. At different times govern
mcnts and individuals have endeavorcd
to make certain kinds of lace fashion
able i'm order to revive the industry and
help the makers in certain districts. but
no permanent success has ever followed
these efforts, because they were forced
and unnatural.
The colorings Of the textiles Ct the
most primitive people shows fine
sense of color. and when We compare
the later bold contrasts of color. the
crudeness in combinations. we realize
that when Il people turn away from
nature to art for instruction, and see
color and form only through the eyes Of
others, they lose all true conception of
color
When we pass from ease to case in
this alcove. and see what the u..,i,:i..c.3,
people knew how To make To meet. not
only the needs of their lives but to
crafty sense of beauty, new respect
comes for the knowledge. the art. the
industry of the people who lived n-.,,s
before we did. and from whom we have
taken all that meant freedom. and to
whom we make no return
Nature was their storehouse of raw
materials and few crude tools, made
by themselves, their machinery: and yet
the result of their work is beyond our
skill Of eve and hand without years of
training. Christian Union.