Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-25
The Peasant Women Learn the Art in
the Fields.
EVEN TEE CHILDREN LEARN IT
Some Patterns Require Years to
Weave.
WORKING EARLY AND LATE


needs only Few seeds, and from them
she will evolve marvellous things She be.
gins at the beginning with her work, sows
her seeds. raises her flax, spins her thread
and makes her lace. If she does not in
every case do the whole of the work. she
gets part OF 1t by exchange from her
peasant neighbors. and is entirely indie
pendent of the rest of the world
The Russian corner of the woman.s ex-
chahge In Soth street is an independent
establishment by ITSELF managed by a Lit.
tie Russian girl, who is trying to intro
duce the work Of the natives of her coun.
try into America. Miss Vera Polakon is
the lame Of the little lady, but she is more
oiten spoken of as the little Russian
girl, Tor there is a soft-yoiced eeptia
ness about her which makes the words an
propriate She has made a visit to Rus
STA this past summer to see her friends
anu bring over more of the supplies she
needed. and she was talking about her
countrywomen there the other day.
Ihey are very happy with their work.
=, Mouid not Know what to do without
WORK The children are not like the chill
dren here. They begin to work when they
are very small. They must do it, and they
Ike to do It, The mothers begin to teach
them when they are seven or sight years
Old. and when they are nine or ten they
can do beautiful work
A Child Worker
There was one young Russian girl with
US who could do the best work and she
was only thirteen. but she had commenced
10 work when she was six. Some of her
work was exhibited at the Atlanta exhibit
non. ~ was quarter of yard wide and
she worked with 400 Robbins
All the Russian peasant lace is the
Sushion lace The rich peasants make a
nt.s sAno TO place the cushion on in front
OF VEN when they work. but the poorer
peasants have only a basket which tbev
hold on their knees. Yes, they ali make
race. Ahere Is not SO much difference be-
tween them. The richer peasants have
oread enough and perhaps their houses are
DETER and they have wooden fIoors IN
Them The poorer peasants have only the
houses That have come down to them from
old. " 'ei'
The peasants houses are very small
They are divided in the middle into two
rooms. One Is the guest room and the
other is where the family lives The guest
LOOT. rooia mas table with benches around the
SIDES, like the other room, though the
benches and table are all made of better
WOOD The peasants make all their furni.
trre themselves. They make everything
liiey use. In one corner Of the guest room
Will De the icons, the holy pictures one
OF which every child receives when if is
porn. and every girl when she is married,
from her parents. The peasants take the
eeSSto "hoh lIey WISH TO honor this
corner OF the guest room.
Their Homes.
I'm the other room in the house il also q
table and there are also benches around
the room, only made of cheaper wood.
The peasants live in this room. The
principal thing in ii is the big stove of
brick IN the corner, and il is built mn to
the ceiling, all but one space in the i'm
heuiate corner, which is covered over
making a sort of shelf very near the cell
ing, and which has the wall of the houss
on one side and the other part of the stove
gong up on the other. This makes warm
place. where in the coolest weather the
Iafniiy sleeps, sometimes four or five per-
sans at tine.
AT times this shelf becomes too warm
put the hire is so far below that more fre-
quently it is only comfortable. though it
- 50 near the ceiling that 1t is not posi-
BILE TO sit up in it, There is another place
Tor sleeping made by big shelf-like ar
rangement, which makes a sort of a dom
Die ceiling to the room, and which, being
SO high, is the warmest place in the room
excepting only the stove shelf and here
also the family can sleep. Then there are
the benches around the room, which with
sheepskin, mike a good bed In the
summer the floor is used
lille the rich PEASANTS floor is of
WOOD the poorer peasants have floor of
earth, sometimes covered with straw This
makes bed for the animals, for any of
with the domestic animals the sheen the
dogs and even the chickens They are
very kll,dhearted.
Winter Lace Mating.
1T is in these living rooms that the wo-
men make their lace in the winter. In the
summer there is not SO much time for IL,
for they have their agricultural duties
The peasants never buy anything for their
work If they have their seeds they raise
I q Crain ha
the lace or they raise the sheep and spin
I The hne wool and make the beautiful Oren-
burg Shawls. Sometimes a woman will
make her lace from the very beginning,
planting the seeds and doing all the work
even TO selling the lace she has made
But not always. Some of the women raise
the flax and do the spinning and exchange
with the lacemakers. but they always do
II among themselves; it is all peasant
work. They do everything for themselves,
and the men even make the spinning
wheels and the looms for weaving
Inc women get up very early. perhaps
or 5 o'clock in the morning and they
work until IL or II O'Clock at night But
they are gay people, and in the evening
a great many peasants gather in one
house, and they will bring their work
and sing as they work. or sometimes they
will stop for little while and dance and
then go to work again.
They do not know any other life, and
they are very happy. They do all their
work for themselves. and have no bosses
Some of the designs of the lace are
very old, and many of them they make I'D
from the things they see around them.
designs from the frost the window
Every thread in piece of lace has to
have pair of bobbins. The children be-
gin with narrow lace with about ten pairs
OF bobbins, and the women use more OF
less, according to the width of the ace.
The lacemakers usually live in one place,
and the women who do other kinds of
work are together in other towns. There
is one town not far from Moscow which
Is filled with lscemakers. and as soon as
J gu get near the town you can hear the
sound of the bobbins. The shawlmakers
line in the province of Orenburg, which
gives the shawls their name. They are
made of the finest down of the sheep, Sc
lectcd from the wool, and the fine yarn is
spun and the shawls knit with two
ordinary knitting needles. 1t will take a
woman four months to make one four
yards square. They are so soft and fine
that three OF them can be drawn through ,
4 finger ring at once. 1t will take a wo-
man all winter to make a piece of lace ten
DR. twelve yards long ana half a yard wide,
and she does not get more than 81 or IS
for it. They are very strong laces. and
hey will wear for hundreds of years"