The Portland daily press., 1897-09-02
= DEER ISLE CUSTOM.
Spinning Match Described by
Boston Transcript Writer.

w were There. We saw it, the spin
Mug match Of 1897. You notice we speak
Vi ~ III Gne singular number. for did any
Transcript reader see one this summer,
anu could one be seen anywhere In all
Snle Dioau land save on the Happy Isles
,ah up III Indian Bay on the coast of
naino' asks writer in the Boston Trans
crip'' You will not find these names on
the map but the place is real and the
spinning match was real.
IL was In the village Of Cloudland, so
named by the lady from Philadelphia"
tnough nos that illustrious friend of the
FeCerklns. Ten o'clock of a Tuesday
morning found the notable housewives
Win thelr days work of ironing, baking,
cnurnlng, bed making, all of the thous-
ana cares OF household safely out of the
way and the women in fresh, crisp print
dresses or neat shirt waists, gathered at
the little chapel, ready for the annual
spinning match.
AS one entered the wide-open door. the
soft little hum of the eight spinning
wheels greeted the ear, and the sight of
graceful figures stepping briskly back and
lortn as the slender thread heightened
under their fingers, met the eye. Great
piles OF rolls, brought from the factory
instead OF being made. at home as in the
old days, were piled here and there, some
white, some brown; and bewildering
array OF queer looking things which we
afterwards learned to call "swifts" and
reels claimed our attention. Besides
the spinning, quilting was going on in
one corner; some women were knitting
rapidly as they watched the merry groups;
others were looking after the dinner in
preparation. Around each group lowered
the curious summer visitor.
ne eager visitors were SO curious and
So interested to try the fascinating wheels
that the spinners soon gave up the idea of
contest, and patiently mended the
proKen threads and untangled the kin ks
bne unsk1lled labor brought about. Many
OF the spinners were elderly, but more
were young, deft fingered and graceful.
All the womenIseemed to understand how
to Wh1rl the wheel and draw out the slen-
der thread from the soft white roll One
OF the most sskilled workers was Lottie
Andrews, a young girl of about twenty,
WIN oilO C+ccaI gray eye, SulOOUQ, SOU
brown hair and firm mouth of the woman
with a. faculty." like Mrs. Katy Scud-
der.
How long have you known how to
spinP" we asked.
"Since I was six years DID," she an
swered.
But what could you do thenY'
II carded the wool, spun the yarn, knit
it into stockings and sold them. With
the money honOht ma drocc -
Think of it, a baby of six years earning
her own clothes! No wonder the young
women from Happy Isles are the trusted
agents of large dry goods houses, the
European correspondents of great news
papers. With such training they are
equal to any situation. But it did !. seem
i Ike painting the vices of the present on
the virtues Of the past to see these grace
full spinsters chewing gum
BY this time our work had induced
good appetites and the announcement of
dinner was hailed with delight. Such a
feast Old-fashioned, home made brown
bread and baked beans, splendid coffee
and six kinds of pie.
In the late afternoon, when the fun was
beginning to slacken, the lady from
Boston and a college student brought
their kodaks and the big wheel, the swifts,
reel and Martha basket, which is as old as
the society, had their pictures taken
The Martha Washington Benevolent So
ciety was organized in 1885 and two of
the charter members are still living
Aunt Silence Cummings is ninety seven
years old and sometimes comes to the
meetings now. She can talk interesting
ly of the early history of the society. One
time, when flour was very high, the
Marthas as they call themselves, bought
barrel for good old deacon and his
wife, who had nothing but little corn
meal in the house. When the barrel was
placed on the floor of their kitchen, they
knelt, one on each side, to give thanks
AS brides show their trousseaux, this
dear old lady shows with pride the fifteen
quilts, the fruit of her handiwork, each
with its intricate pattern, Sunrise,
'tfox and geese, /" clog cabin" and it's
many rows of stitching. In any other
place this old lady would be marvel but
here the women are all surprises. All of
the dynamic energy of the island seems to
be stored in them, and they never rest
from their labors. You see a young wom-
an with clear eye, rosy cheek, erect car
riage, and surmise she was bride u year
or.two ago. You are told she is the grand
mother of that frisky little boy in the
broad collar who is making large semicir-
cular excavations in cookie and trying
to break every bone in his precious body
by climbing where no one but an impossi-
BILE boy would think Of going. That live
ly woman whose hair hardly shows a
CLINT of silver is a great-grandmother
and SO on.
But to return to the ''Marthas" Any
girl having reached the mature age of ten
can join. One lady laughingly said she
could remember how eagerly she waited
ana was sure she never should get to be
ten years old. Another said she sat on the
Martha basket with her heart in her
mouth lest she should not get voted in.
The society has built little chapel,
with their own room over the gate, where
they meet each week to sew for the poor
They have money in the bank, and are
richer by eighteen dollars for this last
spinning match At the business meeting
an officer admitted shamefacedly they had
used their interest money for stove for
themselves. But they royalty made
amends by voting all the money in their
treasury, one hundred dollars, for side
walks, for the good of all. As they sit
on the hard settees at the Sunday service,
they can well think with pride of the
work Of their hands as thew see the Daat-