Morris tribune., 1911-11-24

THE MORRIS TRIBUNE.
1t is also an incentive to better work
in school because of course no child of
poor scholarship, who has daily failure
in lessons could enjoy the unre-
strained privilege of visiting this
table. More than all else this love
of books that good book ever creates
for itself establishes companionship
for the vacation period that is most
helpful and uplifting. The haymow
rendezvous becomes pleasant book
under shady tree, down by the brook
side, on the veranda, or in a corner
of mammals own kitchen where lit
may be dropped to lend a helping
hand to the weary keepers of the
household.
! Handicrafts.
"There is another very splendid
possibility easily within the reach of
many counties of the state of Mime
sofa. Those counties largely populat-
ed or even in part by foreigners are
doubtless possessed. as is Stevens
county, of looms that have. ceased to
hum; spinning wheels that have for
gotten to sing and hands skilled in
lace making that have too much to do
to find time for pretty lace work. My
first interest in this work came
through the statement often made by
my husband. who is physician
among these people, that the reason
| so many of these women of foreign
birth 60 insane is the lack of change,
of beauty and forgetfulness in their
lives. There are many splendid peo-
pie in our state today who are deeply
interested in the movement to en-
courage the development of these
arts known as domestic or more pop
ularly called the handicraft. AS yet
the interest in them rests largely with
those who seek to revive them for
arts sake. A happy and ideal plan
but one with which / humbly take
issue and for these reasons. It is
the lack of funds for life's necessities
that has crowded out the domestic
arts. There has been no value put
upon them and while the pleasure in
them is indicated in storing them
away among other treasures in attic
trunks and old chests. the belief that
they are of value to others than the
one who made them or to them who
can make them; a belief that the
struggling ambitious world about
them thinks of them as possessed of
any merit compared with the poorly
made and flimsier fabric of the fac
tory loom, does not exist. So dor
mant is education along these lines
and so humbled are the makers, that
only too often these treasures are
relegated to concealment by the over
aspiring young people of the family,
who have become accustomed to the
usual condition as they find it it the
village near by and have imbibed too
strongly of the American spirit to
make the mind save the hand and
foot, to get as much as you can, in
as short time as you can and give
as little as you must in return, for
getting wholly that the mind, being
the most delicate organ, most sus-
ceptible to nerve wear and break
down, can very nicely be brought to
repose and ease through dexterous
and skillful pair of hands or feet.
''The home made, handmade arti-
Gle so exceeds in value not only art
istically but in real durability the
factory made one, that many of these
things would wear the lifetime
through. and we would not constantly
confront the obstruction. decay and
waste of everything in use about us.
that in itself has more to do with the
mad rush to earn a living, and earn
it quickly, than any other reason.
Scientists claim that the soothing hum
of the loom and the spinning wheel
and the patient count of stitches in
intricate lace making helps more in
the recovery to health of the worn
out mind. soothes and calms more
than any other influence, so l say,
perpetuate these arts commercially.
if you must. when they have so much
commercial value and the financial
nrohlonn e tho rrnhlen insI1rmnnnt.