The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-08-04
FAD FOR SPINNING WHEEL
DOES NOT REVIVE ART
Though They Decorate Many House.
Few Know Their Use.

rev NnoW heIr Use.
Along some ancestral line nearly ev-
cry American woman can find some
charming grandmother, who wore
paint and patches, who powdered her
hair, used the spinning Wheel rode
on a pillion and knitted with huge
needles that were warranted to do as
much execution with the hearts of adj
miring SWANS as with the worsted they
fashioned into hosiery, gloves and
headWear.
1t is this which makes the spinning
Wheel JOY forever, if not thing Of
beauty. The humble invention is n.
stock ornament for a parlor or boudoir,
an old-fashioned dining room or even
Kitchen. 1t comes into vogue every
ten or fifteen years, and then is put
away to await a return Of The Old 70
mantle feeling.
In some parts of the country there
are still spinning wheels in daily cm-
ployment. A few must be a century
OLD. 1t may be noticed that these
stanch pieces of the carpen. ar'S h3n1i-
craft are strong, heavy and somewhat
AWKWARD. They have not the artistic
hnlsh OF the neatly turned and carved
Wte"ls which are found in so MANY
rsthetic parlors. Some of these artis-
TIC Wheels are so delicate and dainty
that they would break the moment
they were set to work at making
strong, thick thread
This difference does not discourage
the modern young woman, who's con-
fronted by dire dilemma. She must
Fave a spinning wheel because it is ro-
mantle and historic and then the
wheel must be an object of loneliness
tc match the furniture in the boudoir
CT ner own style of comeliness. Be
tween these two alternatives the poor
wheel does not have much of show.
The funniest thing about this revival
Is that 1T has been brought about by
the class which never works, and
would not know how if it tried to-.
Our great grandmothers were very
busy damsels and danes. The spinning
wheel was no tournament, but a very
serious matter of daily life. They
made the machine spin by the hour.
while they reeled off the thread that
they We're to knit or weave. The we'll
educated women of those years was a
spinner, weaver, dyer and tailor all COM
b'ned in one. 1 wonder how many of
their fair descendants can emulate
them in these lines?
Nevertheless they have brought about
n fourishing manufacture of ANTIQUE
wheels, and many of the organizations
have adopted the wheel with or with
out the distaff and treadle as a club
badge or coat-of-arms for their club
paper.
III the finishing of the modern stage
the humble spinning wheel holds a
prominent part. It would be difficult
u give Faust" without one in the CEN
ter Of the stage, where poor Marguerite
sings, smiles, hopes, dreams and weeps
and in the baFnyard dramas it is even
today more important than the melan-
choly COW or the we'll where the "oId
naken bucket" brings up sparkling
CrotCn from the cellar under the stage.
Ehterprising photographers keep one
as stock property along with the drop
curtain representing a classic temple
or the canvas logs on which young la
dies sit and pose as Maud Miller rest
irg.
One of the oldest things about the
spinning Wheel anent the. fad is that
the average owner never takes the
trouble to learn how to work the ma
chine. She plies it in both directions,
leaves off the connecting cord, and
even goes so far as to decorate it with
ribbons in a way which would prevent
it ever being put to practical use
Kansas City, Star