Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1902-04-03
IRISH HoMEspuNs.
The Peasants Are Making Wooden
Cloth for Royalty.

S'otH TOT hoy6ny.
In the little matched cottage at
Donegal and Connemara looms and
spinning wheels are busy manufacture
Ing homespuns for royal wearers. The
kings and queens of Europe have de-
cided that these manufactures are At
the north and west of Ireland are
reaping a golden harvest.
Two years ago Queen Victoria or
dered large quantity of irish home
made woolens. This Immediately Gre
ated an outside interest in the goods
and few weeks sufficed to set all
the idle looms in motion Orders are
now being received from every city in
Europe. and several lots have been
exported to the United States A
large order recently came to Persia,
and even in Australia the homespun is
not unknown. The peasants are rap
idly becoming prosperous compared
with their circumstances a few years
ago. The new market for their goods
has claimed every yard they manu-
facture, so that while royalty fiaunts
the homespun the cotters are content
with the cheaper mill article.
For hundreds of years the peasantry
of Ireland clothed themselves in gar
ments of their own manufacture. Less
than fifty years ago no wedding was
complete without a spinning wheel
heading the list of presents from the
parents of the bride. Even in poor
old Ireland however, machinery has
made such strides that had Queen Vic
toria delayed much longer in placing
the first royal order for the homespun
the sound of the loom would not now
be heard in the land. AS it is, old
wheels are being busted and renovat-
ed; fingers that had almost forgotten
the duties required of them are being
quickened to work again, and young
hands are rapidly becoming expert
with practice. The workers are quite
as interesting as the study of the
cloth they manufacture. and their
abodes are always a great attraction
to the tourist.
Donegal is the center of the present
cottages along the mountain sides are
filed with the hum of busy workers.
The entire family spend the winter
months at reel wheel and loom. When
the days lengthen and the sun grows
more genial, work on the little patch
of ground necessitates a decrease in
their production. Potatoes must be
planted. a few cabbage plants "dib-
bled' in the ridges and a rood or two
of oats 'trenched." Then follows the
haymaking season, with its delightful
weather and cloudless sky. No mat
ter how many orders 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 pleas
ure is usually the fulfillment of gen.
eral desire to take their own time for
doing things They like the sunshine
and the growing meadows. the green
pastures and the moss covered banks;
there is something in the whitethorn
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 pitilessly on the
roof and the wind means and groans
In the wicker chimney.
A cottage owning loom may al
ways 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 expense of proportion and gives
the abode a sQuatty appearance that
is deceiying. The walls of the cot
| tages are whitewashed a couple of
! times every year and are remarkable
for their cleanliness.
The machines used in manufactur.
ing the homespuns are amazingly
crude in appearance. They are very
servieeable and enduring. in spite of
their lack of finished workmanship.
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 an
other time. All the machines are per
meated 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.
IL is astonishing with what accuracy
these century-old machines operate
On one of these looms was woven the
Irish linen presented 10 Queen Vic
toria on the occasion OF her jubilee In
1887. The linen was said to be the
finest ever manufactured
Predictions have been made 10 the
effect that the homssrun industry
win again spread oSsI ireland. Little