The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-14

New York. presented to the Whits House, . wonderful Oriental rug. It l. six and half feet long by four and a half wide. woven of imperial silk and studded with pearls. turuuoises and rubies. The estimated worth fs ! S50,000 At present the rug is stretch 1 ed upon an easel in President TAft'f private once. The, giver certainly un-
 derstood that In the creation of the
 mouse, beautiful" the American has no peer. me youngest of the nstions has proved to be the greatest consurn- CT. not only of the comforts of this continent. but of the arts and luxurfes of the old world. The Eastern rug, with all It's warmth and blending of color. its softnehs of pile, the air of mystery in its quaint designs. appeals directly to the American, and to him
 is due the revival of the rug weaving
 of the Orient. Our annual imports of carpets and
 rugs from European Turkey range be-
 tween 5oo,ooo and 100000 square yards.
 and from Asiatic Turkey from soo00
 to 45,0oo. The aggregate value of
 these yearly importations ranges from
 one to three and half million dollars.
 This does not include the rugs bought
 in London. And. besides. nSany East
 ern weavers, notably Armenians. have
 set up their looms in our own coun-
 try.
 The art of weaving is as old as civ-
 ilization. Egypt, mother of all indus
 tries, points her finger at her graven
 pictures. On the tombs at Beni- Has
 san weavers are still working at their
 handlooms. Somewhere about 2T0o B. e. they began, and their unfinished tap
 estries speak louder than any histor- fans written word. Hundreds Of years
 later an Egyptian queen had herself
 conveyed to Caesars presence con
 ceaIed in rug. Did her woman's wit
 tell her that the soft rich pile would
 enhance her beauty, and help mitigate
 the great mans anger.
 Phoenicia carried on extensive rug
 making. From the Far East, rug weaving spread into Greece. then to Italy. Finally when the Saracen swept all before him, he carried the art into Spain and Western Europe.
 Over the vast plains of Asia roam great herds of sheep, goats and cam els. Even the rnerinos of Spain do not yield such fleece as the sheep of Far sistan And who has not heard of the wonderful wool from the Kashmir An gora and Thibet goatsf Somehow. these animals refuse to be dom esticat- ed elsewhere as expensive experiments have proved. Throughout the mysteri- ous Orient are the weavers Of the wonderful Eastern patterns Though these people be spread over an irn- mense territory: though they be mem bers of totally different tribes; though they be the nomsds who spin while they tend their Hooks: though they be controlled by the head master of the town, or the large modern firm all have characteristics in common. From time immemorial tho father has handed the trade down to his son, anj the son has no desire to change. He has not ambition above his nonotonous life. and the few pennies he earns suf-
 flee for his needs.
 The shearing usually takes place in the spring. The wool is carefully laid in piles and picked over. It fs then washed several times in running water and dried slowly anu evenly fn the sun. During these processes 1t loses about 90 per cent of weight in dirt, and 90 per cent in animal oil. The carding and spinning are done in the simplest fashion with the rudest fm- clements. Though protesting against further concessions. to modern meth ods. the natives have finally adopted the spinning wheel. and in several sec- ffons. whore very heavy carpets are made. the Europeans have introduced steam mills.
 After the spinning comes the dyeing. The yarn, not the wool. is dyed. The native always uses vegetable or ant mal dyes. 50 an antique" ia a rug whose age numbers fifty years or more. having been made before the sn- troduction of aniline dyes. The reds are extracted from snadder. from sheep's blood. from a little insect which infess oak threes along the coast of the Mediterranean. from ivy berries from onion skins. and lately from the Mexican e0chfneal Blue comes from the indigo plant. The Persian berry furnishes yellow. The last in condbi- nation with indigo forms the various greens. Browns are extracted from gall nuts. Lavenders and violets are produced. like the old lost Tyrian pur- pie, from marine nnoilusiks.
 About the middle of the last cen- tury, mineral or aniiine dyes were in- troduced into the Orient. Their coiors are not fast and rugs are not what they were. In 1900 the Shah of Persia issued an esiict making 1t a crime to bring aniiine dyes into the country, but the law is lax. A modern purchas- CT of an antique, should look well to 1t that his rug has not gained It's ap- pearance of age from having slept awhile in the bosom of Mother Earth. or from being pressed with a hot iron. and that the yeiiows have not been ar tificiaily dulled with coffee and the reds with lemon juice.
 Through the dyeing process the work Is mostly done by men. Except in In- dia, the weaving is generally left to the girls and women. Formerly the Eastern maiden wove rugs for her dowry. even as Puritan Priscillas of our own land fitted out their linen chests The weaving is all done by hand on the simplest kind of a frame. The design ia worked from right to left and from the bottom upwards. There are but two kind of knots. the Persian or Selma, and the Turkish or Ghiordes. The former has more knots to the square inch than the latter. An antique Selma in the possession of a noted collector has 1000 knots to the square inch, and more than a million in the rug.
 The divisions into kinds are some what as follows: the namazlfk or pray CT rug, with its niche representing the niche of the mosque. Every true be- lieyer spreads his rug on the ground at prayer time, points the niche to- ward the Mecca and with his head in the angle performs his devotions. Next comes the hammanlik or bath rug. pre- scented to the bride on her wedding day. The oijaklik or hearth rug, is very precious to the family, who al- ways spread 1t before the fire upon the arrival of a guest. The berdelfks are hangings. Most of the sllk fabrics belong to this class and are seldom used in the East as floor carpets There arc also Rad Ia dahs or fIaor nou