Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-21
PuND1Ts-FAMoUs HINDU SCHOLARS

from the leading dressmakers of London,
Paris and Vienna. When we were in his
shop today he told that Mrs. Leland
Stanford had commissioned him to fur
nish the museum of her university in Cali
fornia the finest possible samples of diff
ferent styles of Indian embroidery, and tb'
them Her contract amounts to more than
$50, 0O0 Lady Curzon, he said was his
best customer, for she not only ordered all
of the material for her state gowns from
him. but brought him enough orders from
the ladies of the British court to keep his
shop busy for five years. He said that
Lady Curzon designed the coronation robe
of Queen Alexandra; he declared that she
had the rarest taste of any woman no
knew and that she was the best dressed
woman In the world.
He spread upon the floor wonderful sam
pies of the skill and taste of HIS artists.
brocades embroidered with Jewels for the
ceremonial robes of native princes; silks
and satins whose surface was concealed
by patterns wrought in gold and silver
thread And everything Is done by men.
Women do not embroider in India. He
keeps eighty men embroiderers constantly
employed, and pays them an average of
IS cents a day. The most famous of his
artists, those who design as we'll as exc
cute the delicate and costly furnishings,
the men who made the coronation robe of
the British queen, receive the munificent
compensation of AZ cents day. That Is
the maximum paid for such work. APP
coarser work and have not yet acquired
sufficient skill and experience to undertake
more important tasks are paid s cents
day, and work twelve hours for that.
Cashmere Shawls.
Delhi Is the principal distributing point
for the famous cashmere shawls, which are
woven of the hair Of camels, goats and
sheep in the province Of Cashmere, which
lies to the northward about 900 miles. They
are brought here packed in panniers on the
backs of camels. / am told here that the
foreign demand for cashmere shawis has
almost entirely ceased. that very few are
shipped from India nowadays because In
Europe and America they are no longer
fashionable. Hence prices have gone down,
the weavers are dependent almost entirely
upon the local market OF India, and you
can obtain good shawls for very low prices
about half what they formerly cost. In
northern India every Hindu must have
OF a pair of boots to a citizen of Chicago or
New York. and IT Is customary to invest q
considerable part of the family fortune in
shawls. They are handed down from gen.
GRAFTON to generation, for they never wear
out; the older they are the more valuable
they are considered. You often see bare
footed, bare-legged peasant with his head
wrapped in a cashmere shawl that would
bring a thousand dollars in London auc-
ton room. 1t Is considered absolutely es-
sential for every young man who pretends
to be anybody to sport one of these beautf-
full fabrics. and IL there is none for him In
the family he saves his earnings and
scrimps and borrows and begs from his re-
lations until he gets enough money to-
gether to buy one.
Most of the shawls are of the Persian
patterns familiar to US. The ground work
is solid color (white and yellow seem to
be the most popular). and there are a good
many of blue. green, orange and pink. A
crowd of Hindus In this part of the country
suggest a Kaleidoscope as they move about
with their brilliant colOred shawls upon
their shoulders.
The amount and fineness of embroidery
upon the border and in the corners of
shawls give them their value, and some-
times there is an elaborate design In the
center. The shawl itself il so fine that II
can be drawn through finger ring or folded
up and slowed away in an ordinary pocket.
but it has the warmth of Scotch blanket
Worked in the Home.
Shawls are woven and embroidered in the
homes of the peopls of Cashmere. and are
entirely OF hand work. There are no fac
tories and no steam looms. and every stitch
of the decoration IL made with an ordinary
needle by the fingers Of man. Women do
not seem to have acquired tho accomplish
ment.
A great deal OF fun used to b. made at