Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-05-10

arrangement Wnlcu nOlQS the QdX-l
forget what it is called-is tied a knot
of glistening satin ribbons that cost
more than the fair spinner's great
great-grandmother would have paid for
the stool she sat on while she spun and
sang. oh, yes. it is fine to play at spin
ming fax, and a pretty picture a fair,
fashionably dressed woman makes at
her wheel. But what's the good Of it?
The only good / know is that it gives
the work of making the wheel and
chair to an illustrious and deserving
artist like Miss Coxhead
In her studio she has a collection of
several pieces of her work There is a
cabinet which represents one of her
most successful achievements. It Is of
Italian oak. designed in the renais-
sance style, and is carved at the top,
front and sides. For this piece Miss
Ccxhead obtained over $500, even in
this island, out of the way, though
beautiful as any spot on earth. She
works for the leading furniture houses
here, receiving orders for their best ar
ticles
Some admirable specimens of her skill
were wrought out in an order she exc
cuted for the governing body of the
island. 1t ordained that the names of
all the mayors, "constables" they are
called here, list dating back to the
year 14e0 should be craven upon brass
very properly-and be framed and
put on exhibition permanently in the
town hall as perpetual remembrance,
or warning, to their successors. The
frames were seven feet high and were
carved out of oak. This carving their
young and talented fellow townswom-
an executed to the great credit of both
herself and the eminent body that gave
her the order.
To me, however, the fine girl wood
carver and cabinet maker herself is far
more interesting than her work, hand
some, honest and solid as that is. AS
with most artists, there is something
occult and mystical in the way her de-
signs come to her. Who can tell how
it is? A picture appears before her
closed eyes. Sometimes it is a com
plete design. Again it is only hint.
She takes it up, thinks over it, studies
it out and adapts it in her mind to the
wood in which she must materialize
it.
Like the poet Goethe. she has the
rare faculty of visualizing objects she
is thinking of strongly. When the de-
sign for a piece of carving is fully fin
ished In her mind, she can sit quietly
and reproduce 1t exactly, not as a
mere mental image, but as an actual
picture hanging in the air before her.
And yet there is nothing the least
moony or mystical about the wood
carver girl. She has a merry sense of
humor She loves her work with per
feet devotion. TO her it takes the
place of almost all that other girls care
for, novel reading. gossip, fashions and
flirting. She does not read a novel a
year. 1t is lucky that her work takes
the place of a sweetheart, for In Jersey
there is no more than one sweetheart
to six girls, and most must therefore
do without
But Miss Coxhead has plenty of rec
reation. She is perfectly healthy and
loves rowing, cycling walking and all
athletic exercises. She has never worn
a corset in her life and never known an
illness. She has strong, splendid arms
and hands and not an ounce of pulpy,
fabby flesh upon her active. graceful
body. l wish there were thousands
more like her.
When she looks at you out of her
clear, direct, honest eyes, you know
she cannot help doing conscientious
work She thinks girls and boys are
pampered too much physically and
/ brought up In way oversoft and lux
urious, and perhaps she is right. !
wonder, too, when l see her work why
girls not obliged to earn their living do
aot learn wood carving oftener and
construct artistic furniture for their
homes. Such occupation would be
both more useful and more healthful
than reading novels and humping a
piano with Indifferent success.
And all the time Miss Coxhead was
talking to me | was thinking, What
grand American girl you would makei
Island of Jersey.