The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-09-15

| coverlets and scraps of flannel gar
ments their woman ancestors spun.
/ dyed and wove. These are as bright
/ and firm in color almost as the day
they were made.
Aniiine colors were discovered a gen.
GRAFTON ago, exquisite as rainbow tints,
/ but as evanescent too. Man perceived
| here a cheap way of coloring textile
| fabrics, so clapped the aniline dye
stuffs upon his machine made cloth.
| From that day to this fast colors have
departed from woven goods. One of
| the chief reasons why Persian and 9TH
| er oriental rugs and hangings are val
ued above all others is that they do
not fade, but wear out with colors I'M
| dimmed. 1t is because they are made
from vegetable dyes, the secret of
whose preparation is known only to the
eastern makers and sacredly kept by
them.
Some knowledge of oriental dyes was
probably brought to Europe when tap
century. The middle of the fifteenth
century the Gobelin brothers became
famous for their wonderful dyes. They
had an establishment in Paris and
there turned out such marvellous fast
colors for textile fabrics that they
grew wealthy and were ennobled. Ear
ly in the seventeenth century the site
d
royal tapestry factory The secret of
the marvellous dyes seems to have been
handed down to those who originally
engaged in tapestry making, but was
lost after several generations, and it is
said that now no mortal can reproduce
the lost Gobelin dyes. unless, indeed,
this has been done by Miss Charlotte
Pendleton of Philadelphia.
Miss Pendleton is a lady of means,
tall and dignifed. with dark, keen look
ing eyes and a will and intellect full of
power. Being the intellectual woman
she is, her mind could not help going
o2t beyond mere petty, fashionable
dressing and amusements. Like all
true women of brains. she felt an in
Jerest in Industrial employments for
her own sex Women of brain breadth
cannot help such a feeling. Miss Pen
dleton was also artistic. Ponderins
long on the woman question, she won
dered whether there could not in some
way be even in our time a remunera-
tive return to the feminine occupations
of a century ago in this country.
While she pondered the woman ques-
ton Miss Pendleton was meantime also
intensely interested in dyes and the
textile industry. She made many ex-
periments with her own hands in col
oring silk and wool fabrics. At length
this work became so absorbing that she
withdrew quietly from the Philadel-
phia social circle in which she was
prime favorite and went away. Many
old friends asked whittier she had fit
ted, but none could answer.
1t was nearly a year ago that Miss
Pendleton dropped out. AS a matter
of fact, she went to the semiruraI home
of her brother near Washington and
there began studying and experiment.
ing. The house was an old stone man
80 80 -, i
an unusued hennery, with windows
running across the sides, letting in
enough light for an artists studio
There Charlotte Pendleton conveyed
her dye stuffs. dyeing utensils, wooden
materials. books and papers, and there
for six months the rich society woman
studied. thought and wrought with her
hands eight hours each day. There is
no other way for her or for anybody to