Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1915-12-17
COMMUNICATIONS.
THE KINDLY DEEDS SOCIETY.
BY James NJ Hubbard

BY James NJ. Hubbard.
The Kindly Deeds society made the
little Belgium girl, who had come to live
with them, a member and when the wild
flower season was over she was a regu-
lar attendant at the meetings. And she
was quite a pleasant addition. For as
she now spoke English very readily, she
entertained them with stories of her life
in Belgium. Among other things she
described their favorite games and
dren begged her to teach them to play
them. This she did at recess and they
had great fun. One day she came to the
meeting with little bag in her hand
from which, when the girls began to
work, she drew needle, some thread
and a little cushion. Upon this she
fastened the thread and then began to
make some stitches which she pinned to
the cushion. AS she was in a corner by
herself no one noticed her, 80 when the
meeting was over she put her things
back in the workbag and went home
with Molly and Carry. But she had
got so interested in her work that, in
stead of reading as she was accustomed
20 do in the evening, she got her bag and
began to work again. Molly and her
mother happening to come into the
room saw her and asked her what she
was doing. II am sewing just as my
dear mother taught my sisters and me,
Madelaine answered and a tear came
into her eye. "Please let me see your
work, Madelaine," said the mother who
had grown very.fond of the little orphan,
and when the work was brought to her
she exclaimed, "Why, Molly, Madelaine
is actually making lace and it is very
nice lace too" The little girl was SO
encouraged by these words that every
evening after this she spent some time
at her work and teaching Molly who
was delighted with it. At the next
Kindly Deeds meeting, when the open
ing exercises were over Carry, who
was sitting by her, called out Girls,
come here and see what Madelaine is
doing" AS they crowded round her
she told them how at her home in
Bruges, which is famous for its lace,
one of the first things she could re-
member was her mother working at it,
and that it was one of the first things
she was taught to do, to make little
pieces of very simple lace. The girls
were immensely interested and what
might be called class of lace-makers
was Immediately formed. That is,
number of the girls asked Madelaine if
she would not teach them how to do it.
She was only too glad to, for she did long
to be of some use to these friends who
were so kind to her, stranger in a
strange land. Though, especially at
night, memories of the dear ones she
had lost and her loved home over
whelmed her with sorrow, yet most of
the time she was really very happy so
kind was everyone to her. Many of the
girls learned fast and became so inter-
ested in their work that they spent part
of every evening at home lace making
after this, the very simplest kind, of
course. Naturally their mothers and
older sisters were attracted by this new
industry and some of them began it
themselves. Several took what they
had done to the sewing circle and
showed it to the members. 1t aroused
so much interest that Carry's mother
asked, "Wouldn't you like to have me
go and fetch that little Belgian girl here
to teach us to make lace? Since | have
seen my Carry working at it with such
real pleasure. the thought has come to |
me that it would be good thing for US
older ones to take up the work. You
see the war is going to put stop to a
great deal of the lace making in Bel |
GUM; but the demand here will con-
increase so long as our popua-
ton grows as it has done in past years. |
So why shouldn't we help to supply the |
demand. Lacemaking seems to me,
will be more interesting than knitting |
and, perhaps, than embroidery, and a
great deal cheaper in the matter of
For all we need is just needles
and thread and little cushion to pin
our work to, and pattern. don't see
why in time we couldn't make just as
nice and tasty lace as those ignorant
Belgian peasant women do" The sug-
gestion was acted on with unanimous
approval and Madelaine was brought
INTO the room where the sewing circle
met. An interested group gathered
around her and watched her start her
ace work. Some seized needles and
thread and initiated her as best they
could, while she in simple English ex-
planned each stitch. When the teacher
was shown Madelaine's work and