The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-08-06
4 HOIEOP THE HANDNADRRUG,
OLD FASHIONED ARTS SURVIVE
IN NOVA SCOTIA.
Each Housewife Prides Herself q Her
Floor Coverings - Quaint Patterns
Painted on the Boards Do Duty Tor
Carpets Spinning wheels Cemmoa.


Painted on the Boards Do Duty fer
Carpets Spinning wheels Csmmea.
In the French Aoadian villages Of Nova
Scotia one may still soc the primitive house.
hold arts. They are still 30 far from the
railroad that they are protected from the
invasion Of cheap manufactured objects,
and there are few towns large enough to
support stores Of any importance.
One Of the most interesting efforts at
household decoration ON the part OF the
women Is the painting Of the floors. In
some few Of the houses. the moro pros-
porous ones, there are carpets In the parlon
and oiloloth In the bedrooms. There are
others whose bedrooms, dining rooms or
Kitchens have bare floors but whose par
lors are furnished with oilcloth and rugs.
But most Of those seen In these st. MaTy's
Bay villages have no carpets and few have
oiloloth. The hoors are decorated by the
women in bright oolored paints. This
idea may have originated In an EFFORT to
initiate oilcloth or carpet II so, the imi-
tation Is more picturesque than the original
as well as cleaner and cheaper.
The paint is put on in patterns usually
geometrical, large and rather simple, al
though the more skilful the painter the
more complicated the pattern. Different
patterns are used on the different rooms
In the house and on the halls and stairs.
The patterns are first carefully marked
out and measured by the women before
the paint is put on, and 1t Ii astonishing how
accurately and neatly the work u done by
the ordinary housewife
In one household the kitchen floor was
painted dull gray and over this huge cen-
l. l. alINxuy hn ri
painted. The pattern was laid out in circles
each part Of the pa tern accurately spaced;
The effect was one Of barbaric brightness and
yet was not unpleasantly glaring' .
The hallway OF tAis house FIN, hsd io ~ Ms
or ppd t red snd white he aad sas s
mean much to the French Aca dian. But
the leaning toward the old colors was not
without modification; the blue was almost
black and the red very dark The eaect
was very much that of a tiled pavement. .,
the way y across and a second story IL the
center under the peaked roof. The front
hall opens directly on the kitchen. o very
large, low ceiled room, from which several
tiny bedrooms open. Besides its decorated
floor, the kitchen, which y the dining room
also, often rejoices in elaborate home made
rugs.
practised art among the AoadiAn women.
There are three principal kinds OF these
rugs, classifying them as to the method OF
construction--those made on q background
of sacking and pulled Through, those made
of braided rags and those made OF nat
pieces OF cloth and sewed together on a
foundation. The most elaborate rugs,
those having ornaments OF little dogs and
other designs OF similar. nature, are the
least attractive. The braided rugs, which
are the sort most admired by those OF ar
tistic eve are the easiest to make.
The pulled through rugs made on sack
ing are the ones on which the skilful workers
most pride themselves. They offer an OPP
portunity for the working out Of the much
admired dog designs. They are made on
a foundation Of sacking. The material
OF which they are woven Ia pulled through
the interstices Of the sacking and then the
ends cut of so that deep soft surface Ia
formed of the closely placed clipped ends.
The weaving fabric Is often Of rags, but In
the finer rugs is Of wooden yarn, which the
women themselves have carded, wound and
dyed.
In making these rugs Of wool an effort
Is usually made to follow the patterns OF
the old fashioned velvet carpets. None OF
these carpets is to be seen in the homes OF
these people, but the patterns have been
copied, for generations The wool Tor the
groundwork ia usually dark red, rich and
soft, "a in the old velvet carpets, or 1t may
be white, but this in rarer instances. The
designs are large and carried out in the old
fashioned pinks and bluesof our great grand
mo. hers' days. Large punches OF grapes
garands and stiff but many colored bou-
duets are favorites. So closely and evenly
Is the weaving done that one who had seer
only the cruder examples OF this work