Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-06-21
KNITTING A STOCKING.
now 1t Is Typical OF Our Everyday Hu
man Lives.

40" IL Is Typical OF Our Everyday HUI.
man Lives.
nave a friend who has, among n
variety OF extraordinary tastes. one for
Anittlng; not for knitting lace or fancy
articles, but mittens, stockings and
socks!
undertook to demonstrate to her
the other day the folly of wasting her
valuable time over such stupid work,
when all these articles can be bought
~at any store for less money than She
pays Tor the yarn she makes them of:
and not only failed to convince her of
Deing In error, but she put several new
IDEAS into my head, foremost of which
was this: That the homeliest work under
sklllful hands may open up train of
thought quite above and beyond its
own humdrum level.
IN the hrst place, she proved to me
that. without doubt, home-knit stock
lngs not only wear twice as long as
those one buys, but when they need
mending there is something of them to
darn to-" Moreover, when the feet
are worn out the legs are still good,
and may be footed" making the
stocking as good as new at a very small
expense. AS to the mittens. she mere
~ compared a pair of her knitting to
long, lank pair of ''boughten ones
with neither beauty nor firmness to
recommend them, and had not word
more to say on that subject.
was prepared to be put down. for
usually am when I NEEDLE with af-
fairs that do not know much about,
but was not prepared for the follow
ing allegorical homily that she gave
me, on the poetical side of stocking
knitting, for she is not given to ''epi-
Sodlng," as Samantha says, in this
fashion.
Stupid work as you call it, she
began. II think it has its fanciful side
after all, To me, the long stockings
are typical in a certain way of our lives,
from the very small beginning, to the
-toeing off,; and l have more than once
noted the various stages. There is the
long, monotonous round and before one
begins to shape the leg: that is our in
fancy and childhood, when everything
is made smooth and easy for us.
''Then come the narrowings that
shape the first part of the stocking:
they correspond to the school years.
that mark off in regular intervals the
progress of our mental growth until
our minds are nodded into a fit condi-
ton to take up whatever work is ready
for us in after life.
''Then when the ankle is reached. we
may be said to have graduated from
this second stage, and the heel. coming
next, represents the period between
school days and married life. for L am
supposing we are all to marry.
You must know that there are two
L IL
heel, looks well. and is easy to knit. but
is not so durable as the double heel
The girls who go out to do battle with
the world, the clerks and typewriters,
dressmakers and wage-earners of all
sorts, are taking up the 'double-heel
plan of life. and if they are not quite as
fine and soft, if they do not find ex-
istence quite so much of a play-day as
those girls whom circumstances enable
to choose the single heel i. e.. the
pleasant, sheltered home life, still they
gain strength and endurance by their
contact with the world that will stand
them in good stead in after years.
After the heel comes the gore, part
of the work that must be most carefully
done, as the rest of the stocking is
shaped by it. Even YOU" she said,
with a somewhat disdainful empha
sis, must see the resemblance
between this and the choice these girls,
home girls, or wage earners, make of
their future companions. Urge them
to be careful, to take plenty of time in
deciding, for a mistake right here will
result in miserable, misshapen piece
of life work.
This important point reached and
safely passed, knitting work and life
work falls into the plain round and
round again. monotony that is tire
some or restful according to each indi-
yidual's taste and surroundings. and
sooner or later, the years begin to
shorten. our interest in life centirs more
in those we hold dearest; the stitches
are narrowed two by two, until the
last one slips off the needles and the
work is finished.
1T is good knitter who can show 4
sticking smooth and even from top to
toe: no loose places where the yarn was
not drawn up snugly at the corners of
the needles; no dropped stitches: no I'M
even narrowings or crooked seams: and
if we would all bear in mind that every
day is but stitch in the web of our
lives, perhaps we should try to make
each one more perfect as it comes. so
that when the regular round and round
of weeks and months and years is
passed, and we look back upon it at
last, we may be satisfied to offer our
work to the Great Inspector, and to
leave the memory of it as guide for
tn ,se who take up the needles we have
nut down forever.'-Toledo Blade.
A Name to Conjure With.
s.What ridiculous names they give to
race horses nowadays" said the snake
editor to the horse editor, while the