The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-28
RARE RETTCS ~ - o1-17 .-~0
Georgia WOmen's NeedIeworIx to Go
to Paris.

to Paris.
From the days of the Norman conquest,
when woman's hand wrought the fam
Gus Bayeux tapestry which has served so
well the uses of student and historian
the handiwork of women has been Of rec
ognized historical value.
1t is proposed that the women's ex-
changes throughout the south unite in an
exhibit of the skill of southern women, at
the Paris exposition-an exhibit that shall
date from colonial times, when the peo-
pie of Georgia spun silk from cocoons of
their own raising and dyed it in indigo
cultivated on their own plantations, to
the present day, when the needle work
of southern women has won recognition
for itself throughout the country. Now
is the time for the Colonial Danes, the
Daughters of The Revolution, the ladies'
of the Mt. Vernon Association, and the
Daughters of the Confederacy to bring
to light their relics and modern treasures
and to prepare unselhshly to aid in MAX
ing an exhibition that shall be worthy of
the south, and of its history. Unselhshly
is not the wrong word, for there seems to
be a marked aversion on the part OF some
Americans to trust their curiosities out
of their sight for any length of time
Yet, when the spirit of gener-
osity that has actuated other nations
in regard to Americas great fairs is Ie-
membered, the people can only hope that
America in general, and Georgia in par
ticular, will not be behind their older sis
ters. Hitherto Georgia has not been dis
tinguished for efforts of this kind, so has
still reputation to make. 1t will be easy
to establish an agency here, and to place
in charge some woman whose executive
ability and whose patriotism are unques-
toned. The movement originated with
Miss Annie Napier, in Macon. where its
headquarters will be. and from where
request for space In one of the exposi-
ton buildings in Paris has already been
made.
Among the articles sent from here win
be a gown owned by a Savannah woman
and deserVedly of more interest than could
be any wedding dress made since Go.
Clothes also are valuable aid to the
historian, and in spite of the saying that
fashions repeat themselves every seven
years. people are not likely to see soon
again costumes such as were worn in bel
lum days. This particular dress is made
of blue homespun, woven and dyed by
the brides own hands. IL is trimmed,
not garnitured or completed, with a pip
ing of broadcloth, cut from an old black
coat, and with many buttons half as large
as dinner plates cut from gourds and also
covered with broadcloth.
Many brides rousseau in those days
boosted OF only one print dress as best,
while others were of the homespun; and
veterans often tell that they dislike shirt
waists because they remind them of the
times when no woman owned whole gown
and was forced TO wear pieces of different
ones. Hats were made out of palmetto
plated with more or less skill, and dyed
pink the second year and red the third as
each seasons wear necessitated darker
coloring.
The question is how many such articles
can Savannah furnish? OF samples Of
exquisite modern embroidery and so-called
plain sewing there can be no dearth; and
the efforts of The women of post bellum
days to support herself honorably should
be scarcely less interesting than the at
tempts of colonial danes to furnish and
adorn their homes, or the determination
OF the women OF '6l-65 70 accomplish with
limited material all that devotion ana skill
could accomplish.