Evening star., 1909-05-09

farm a necessity and is still; but this work
does not interfere Now one hundred and twenty
five of these boys, who had never anything of
the kind, are becoming adept at cabinet work, at in
laying vanishing. and polishing woods, carving,
and cane plating and all this in their spare time
What Is Done for Women and Girls
THE girls and the women have their share of at
tention also In Biltmore village. in a lar~e
which is the depot for things sale. the two
women are found who direct this most interesting
experiment They came to B.ltmore in search
health for third member of the family, and having
much time to spare, they eXemplifed the verse
"Whatsoever thy hand fir 1eth to do. do it with thy
might" Not only do hey teach needlework in
classes this large room but they take buggy and
go up into the mountains and visit The houses carry
ing materials with them.
The distances SO great that can
not walk perhaps fifteen eighteen miles to Bilt-
village. The telephone is a wonderful thing;
but the way news spreads without 1t, in country
places IS still more remarkable. The sewing class
also began with handful of those the school
But very girl would appear, saying she
had heard that SO and SO had learned to embroider
to knit or to make lace Very diffdent, very shy
very humble of her powers poor girl! but imbued
with strong desire to succeed.
Their Fine Weaving and Embroidery
FIRST attempts always imperfect but after in
credibly short time wonderful neatness comes
and all the work sale is first class. The inherited
grit and tenacity and the fact that nothing else d
verts their attention, make them such apt pupils
Their neatness is all the more wonderful when it is
remembered that after the first lessons the work is
done at home, by bad light after the day chores
over. and with not too much space Hungarian and
Russian embroidery in blue and red cotton has been
taught; Mexican drawn thread lace making mono
grams on bed and body linen. in fact most of the
fancy stitches mastered already. Also basket
making has become trade Mrs Vanderbilt. whose
active mind is always engaged developing the
scope of her industries Tecolected that hidden away
there must still be the spinning wheels and looms
that the clothes the ancestors of the people
wore
The Harris tweeds woolens and dyed by
the Scot peasantry much in vogue for golf skirts
and country suits The worst weather cannot
damage them and they are pretty in color, and not
difficult to make No sooner thought of, than action
taken Curious old hand made looms hewed by
AK old fashioned spinning wheels, and all APP
piances were unearthed In short while many
cottages were at work This EMPLOYS the women as
we'll as the girls good deal of artistic feeling is
shown in blending shades which they get from leaves
and indelible dyes. The Nature Art School, the
first and best has been theirs
In the Eastern and Northern States, where the
winters cold. the homespuns might have
large sale No amount of bad weather can harm
these materials One hundred and fifty women.
boys, and girls are now weavers 1t IS rapidly be-
coming self supporting institution, and may
day be commercial success tor the mountain peo-
pie The essential point of the industries is that all
work is done at will whenever it is possible, in win
ter at night. This rural people had hitherto
tirely depended what could be made out of
small larger bit of land, and that without the first
principles of repaying the earth. They planted corn
corn, corn. with idea of the rotation of crops
until the land had become almost exhausted With
this state of things their resources sank lower and
lower.
A New World for the People
SPREAD over the forest lands of the Btmore estate
~ alone there live between FIVE hundred and six hun
dred families 1t is among these families that Mrs