Los Angeles herald., 1906-06-17
Special Gable 10 The Herald.

Special Cable 20 The Herald
LONDON, June 16.-Mss Charlotte
Brown, the champion handloom weaver
OF England, will start for Philadelphia
about the middle of this month to take
charge of the weaving department in
the arts settlement which is to be
established there with the aid of the
financial backing of Franklin George
Estes. Sir Thomas Upton, basing his
opinion on his own experience, once
told me that the best way to train
man for successful career was to send
him to America when young and hex
him learn how to hustle there. Miss
Brown Is proof that the same method
may be applied with good results to
women. Though English by birth, most
of her education and training in prac-
tical life has been obtained in the
United States, and it is to this she at
tributes her success In the branch of
utilitarian art which she has adopted.
Tells of Experiences
when | returned to England in 1869"
she said II looked around for some
thing to ocupy my time. 1t was during
visit to Canterbury cathedral thai /
first made the acquaintance of a hand
scendants of the Flemish weavers VINO
centuries ago found refuge there still
work at the same trade. So interested
did / find myself In the work of the
hand loom that / felt at once my future
career was settled. The simplicity of its
mechanism, and the artistic work 1t
was capable of producing both aston
1shed and delighted me. l then and
there became pupil"
Such remarkable aptitude did she
show for the work that in six lessons
she had mastered all her instructor
could teach her and carried on the rest
of her training unaided. She has now
secured every honor that the guild of
arts and crafts in the united kingdom
can bestow upon her. Although she is
at the top of her craft, she still adheres
to the strenuous life, habit which she
says she contracted in America and
cannot shake off in the more somnoient
English atmosphere
She frequently puts in as much as
ten hours day at her loom, and is
continually evolving new designs and
making fresh discoveries in the mani
pulation of warp and woof. She enjoys
the distinguished patronage"-as the
English phrase goes-of the queen and
other members of the royal family, the
duchess of Marlborough, the duchess of
Somerset, the duchess of Leeds. the
countess of Warwick and a host of
other lesser stars in the social firma-
ment but there is no suggestion of the
spoiled favorite of fortune about her.
She gives herself no airs and indulges
in no sentimental rawlings about "art
for arts sake
Is Weaver by Profession
81 am weaver" she says, mot be-
cause l am particularly in love with it,
but because it provides an honest means
of employment and combines art with
decent income.' The fact that she
maintains a Fashionable establishment
in one of the most aristocratic thor
oughfares of South Kensington indi-
Gates that her earnings from her loom
must be considerably in excess of what
most folk regard as decent income"
Her work is prominently displayed at
the various exhibitions of the arts and
crafts associations throughout the
country. The growing popularity of the
hand loom, and the superiority of the
products over machine made goods are
attracting many women of culture to
this branch of industry, with the result
that Miss Brown has several pupils who
can afford to pay substantial fees for
their tuition. Among her pupils is Mrs.
Charles Thompson of Philadelphia, who
is greatly interested in the founding
of the arts and crafts settlement in that