The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-03-21
IRISH HOMESPUNS.
The Peasants Are Making Wooden
Cloth for Royalty.
AN ANCIENT INDUSTRY REVIVED
Entire Families Work in the Win
ter to Play In the
Summer.

In the little matched cottages at Donegal
and Connemara looms and spinning wheels
are busy manufacturing 'lomespuns for royal
wearers. The kings and queens Of Europe |
have decided that these manufactures are fit |
for court attire and the peasants Of the north |
and west of ireland are reaping q golden har-
vest.
| Two years ago Queen Victoria ordered a |
large quantity of Irish homemade woolens. |
This Immediately created an outside interest |
| in the goods and a few weeks suhced to set
all the idle looms in motion. Orders are now |
being received from every city dn Europe, |
and several lots have been exported to the !
| United States. IA large order recently came |
| to Persia and even In Australia the homespun
! is not unknown. The peasants are rapidly be- |
coming prosperous compared with their cir
cumstances few years ago. The new market
| for their goods has claimed every yard they
manufacture. SO that while royalty haunts
the homespun the cotters are content with the
| cheaper mill article
! For hundreds Of years the peasantry of Ire
| land clothed themselves in garments of their
own manufacture. Less than fifty years ago
no wedding complete without a spinning
| wheel heading the list OF presents from the
parents of the bride. Even in poor old Ire
land however, machinery has made such
| strides that had Queen Victoria delayed much
longer in placing the first royal order for the
honespun the sound of the loom would not
now be heard in the land. LAS 1t Is, old wheels
are being busted and renovated; fingers that
| had almost forgotten the duties required of
them are being quickened to work again, and
young hands rapidly becoming expert
with practice The workers are quite AS in
! teresting as the study Of the cloth they manu-
facture, and their abodes are always q great
attraction to the tourist.
| Donegal Is the center Of the present activity
in homespun circles, and the cottages along
the mountain sides are filled with the hum of
busy workers.. The entire family spend the
| winter months at reel, wheel and loom. When
the days lengthen and the grows more
genial, work the little patch OF ground
necessitates decrease in their production.
Potatoes must be planted, few cabbage
plants "dibbled in the ridges and a rood or
two of oats 'trenched" Then follows the
haymaking season, with it's delightful weather
and cloudless sky. No matter how many or
ders royalty may send for homespun, these
hardy hill folks will take things aisy in
summer days" These simple peasantry live
to please themselves, and their pleasure is
usually the fulfllment Of general desire to
take their own time for doing things. They
like the sunshine and the growing meadows,
the green pastures and the covered
banks; there is something In the whftethorn
that calls them to the hedgerow when it is
white with blossoms, and not for gold would
they miss the small birds chorus. Therefore
it follows that the homespun harvest will be
reaped only when the rain beats pitiessy on
the roof and the wind means and groans in
the wicker chimney
| A cottage owning a loom may always be
known by its unusual length. The loom fills
one end of the cottage which is only one
story in height Additional floor space for
spinning wheels makes a greatly Increased
frontage necessary. This is done at the
pense Of proportion and gives the abode
squatty appearance that is deceiving. The
wo la n
couple of times every year and are remark
able for their cleanliness.
| The machines used in manufacturing the
homespuns amazingly crude in appear
ance. They are very serviceabe and endur-
ing, in spite Of their lack of finished work
hanship. Looms are handed down from one
generation to another, and the secret of the
age Of most Of the spinning wheels belongs
to the workers of another time All the ma
chimes are permeated with the odor of turf
smoke, and the natural color of the wood
used in their construction has long since
been dyed black by the burnt peat.
. 1t is astonishing with what accuracy these
century-old machines operate. On Of
these looms woven the Irish linen pre-
! scented to Queen Victoria the occasion Of
her jubilee in 1887. The linen was said to be
the finest ever manufactured.
Predictions have been made to the effect
, that the homespun industry will again spread
. over Ireland Little surprise will be caused
, by this, at least to those who have followed
the growth of the lace industry during the
; past few years. In many districts it has been
almost impossible to engage servants of &C
, count of their being busily employed working
the most costly Irish lace and other kinds of
> fancy needlework. Schools have been estab-
lshed at different centers of population for
instruction in lacework, and as many as fifty
!, pupils attend single seminaries daily. Special
= sales of Irish homemade products have been
- held with great success in London, Dublin
y and Belfast
The lace and homespun industries are close
1y allied. The peasants Of the south have
> practically a monopoly of the lace business,
while the homespun weaving centers in the
a north. Years ago large quantities of wooden
i fabrics were manufactured near Belfast. but
A the cottage looms have long since been ousted
+ by the big factories employing thousands OF
= men and women.
q Most Of the homespuns are sold to the
; | merchants of the many small villages dottng
G the country. They are then purchased in
: bulk by the big retailer, who receives orders
=, from all parts of the world. At present an
4 attempt is being made to deal directly with
: the people without the interference of the
II middle man. AS there is every chance Of It,
a succeeding it is to be earnestly hoped tina
! the weavers themselves will reap the profits
j. | St-s