The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-08-06
A NATIONAL SCHOOL
Distinctively Hawaiian Pattern to be
Created-Present Work is But a
Small Beginning

Small Beginning.
new industry, as far as Hawaiians
are concerned, is gradually growing
| under the fostering care of Miss Lucy
Adams, the recently appointed mistress
| of English at Oahu College, VINO is
| at present teaching a class of lace max
! ers in the summer school, after having
introduced lace making most success
fully at the Kamehameha Girls school
during the past term.
Miss Adams herself an Hawaiian,
does not pretend to be an expert lace
| maker although her skill is fully COM
petent to teach all the preliminary
| grades Of torchon lace and many of
the higher forms. She is intensely in
| terested IN the industry as applied to
| the Hawaiian race and hopes ultimately
! to establish in these islands a school
of lacemaking where a distinctive Ha-
waiian lace of local form and pattern,
| will be turned out by Hawaiian women
and girls and form a sought-after pro-
| duct of the community, in much the
same manner as the constant demand
| for Honiton, Irish, NalenCiennes, Cluny
! and Maltese laces.
! Miss Adams has during a trip to
| Europe, looked much into lace making
| as practised by the women of Switzer-
land, Italy, Ireland, England and other
countries, where the results of their in
dustry often furnish the sole means Of
providing little luXures to exc out the
daily fare bought by the scanty wages
of the husband and father or to start
the small savings account laid by for
rainy day. The successful outcome of
Lady Aberdeen's project with the Iri n
lace makers fired her with a similar
idea to provide native Hawaiians with
an Hawaiian industry fostered by Ha-
waiians for Hawaiians.
The nimble taper fingers of young
Hawaiian girls and women, made plia-
Bile by generations of skilful weaving
of finely braided mats, hats and fans,
| guided the initial experiment at Ka-
! mehameha to a distinct success. One
young Hawaiian girl Miss Elizabeth
AHA, has with constant practice of a
few hours every day for the past year,
| become an expert. She it is who ar
! ranges the framework of pins on the
cushion from which depend the bobbins
wound with thread, numbering from a
| dozen to a hundred according to the
! cOmpleXity of the design. Miss AHA no
longer depends on printed or tr- ced
patterns but has been so carefully
grounded that, taking up any piece of
torchon lace, she can plan out a skele-
/ ton for its reproduction.
J
I school is over, carry the work to Ma
kawao, while two other Hawaiian girls
! who have proved themselves more pro-
| ficient than the rest will do ike " lse,
| one at Kohala and one in Honolulu.
| They will not necessarily be connected
with the regular schools although the
! Board CT Education has warmly COM
mended the new handicraft and is more
| than likely to adopt it as part of the
regular curriculum.
The Honolulu girl, for example will
situate herself in KakaakO or Kawaia-
hao, some district handy to native Ha-
waiians, and act as a missionary. This
will be kept up for one year through
subscriptions raised by Miss Adams in
/ two days among pESminent Hawaiian
ladies' who willingly subscribed FIR the
purpose besides promising their patron
! age, Only Hawaiians were asked and
! only HaWaiians are taught. The craft
| will owe whatever measure of pros
perity it gains purely to Hawaiian en-
! terprise, industry and capital and will
| he eSS rntialiy a native product
The present results are but a begin
ming. Torchon lace making is but the
! Kindergarten of the craft. 1t is Miss
| Adams hope to gain speedily the SER
| vices of an expert lace maker from
| Europe. one teacher in Ireland is will
/ ing to come, and gradually induct the
/ classes into the mysteries of Nenatiah
! LOint lIISh laCes, Carr'ckma ross,
| Cuny, Irish applique, Russian lace
and other varieties of llmy beauty.
Above all the aim is to manufacture
a distinctive lace of the country. AS
! Honiton lace makers, each with their
different web employ the familiar but
| ternies and flowers found in Devon
shire lanes and on the moOrs to furnish
! their patterns, so is it the purpose OF
! Tfgg do to Cd 70 Ifs,V. to
7 tinctive natural objects of Hawaii nei
| into a network of native weaving. Taro
/ leaves, the MALE, fan palms, the lima
! leaf and bloom have all been thought
| Of To this end Miss Adams will send
| to the schools of lace design in Ireland,
| drawings, photographs and specimens
! of the motifs suggested.
In time a design drawn by a native
| Hawaiian may be adopted but until the
art is more widely known the sending
! to an art school for a working design
| is necessitated by the necessity ac-
! curate knowledge of the craft required
| by a designer.
1t is the hope of those who have pro-
pagated the new industry to see even
! tually a lace making college, capable of
! being widened into an institution some
what similar in plan to an Agricultural
! college, for the use of Hawaiian girls
| and women. In connection with this
] the lace will be sold at a fair price for
! the workers. the profits paying the ex-
pense. AS purely an Hawaiian affair
Miss Adams believes that with the inn
petuS and interest already secured, she
will have no difficulty in renewing sub
| sCriptiOns and soliciting new ones to
| start such an institution and keep il
going until it is on a paying basis. I'm
der similar representation she believes
l rfgr1l, h. In