Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1923-01-24
IN THE SAME OLD WAY.

ways we once held dear.
| The darnng- needle. knitting, the
things of quaint crochet
All, all of these have vanished and are
things of yesterday"
But l will not believe it. Dreams are
just as sweet and fair
AS they were when we were younger
and no silver in our hair.
The world still brings the blessing of
the girl used to know,
And the love of homely tatting and the
pretty furbelow.
They've stopped this thing of sew
ing says the skeptic in dismay,
THE carpet-rags and darning of the
dear old fashioned way"
But l have sort of wandered down the
quiet paths and sweet,
And found the sewing baskets of the
folks one loves to meet.
I've found the little mothers at their
needlework, and seen
The balls o. yarn unwinding like the
summers web of green.
/ The world is moving faster-yes, I'll
grant you, that is so,
But youth find the same old treasures
of the golden long ago.
where are the patient fingers that
once shaped the pretty things?
You hear some skeptic saying, with the
heartache that it brings.
But in each humble village and in each
country town
| find some woman sewing ira
ditions handed down.
| find needed chair-back, or some
tatting, or some lace,
Or vintage pattern borrowed for
some quaint old fashioned place.
The colorful embroideries-of rose or
daffodils,
A FELLOWSHIP that futters with
show of fancy frills.
Times change" l hear folks grum-
bling. when they think of fancy
work
To-day our women fritter-its case
of sham and shirk"~
But, oh. you doubling Thomas, who
would pull the petals off,
And scatter buds of fancy like a win
ter wind, and scott,
l KNOW the same dear women toll
the same as long ago,
The tired eyes seek the stitches that
grandmothers used to know
They work in hidden corners, in places
far and WIDE
Where all the souls and romance of
quiet persons hide.
I of hn Oh nf tnr of he &c
that seem to say:
I'VE have no busy women in this
changing world today"
The charge is not a fair one-I can
hear the needles click;
l can sense the thrifty fingers, as the
passing minutes tick.
In a million homes the magic of the
yarn and of the thread
Contradicts the idle gossip we have
heard and we have read.
BY a window yonder, singing, is n
mother, and l see
All the needles fairy weaving for the
babe that is to be!
Contributed by
Aunt-Susan- by the-Sea.
Dear Aunt Madge and NJ. B. Sisters;
why, Phoebe, are you come so
soon?" and as S. J. Y. is getting after
me, too, / must try to respond. My
silence has not been from lack of in
terest in the NJ. b. column, but l seem
to have little to offer. My days are
well filled, but l won't plead no time,
for I've always maintained that any
taly tD1n n letter
Prospect Harbor is one big snow
bank, and it's showing now Friday
afternoon) as fiercely as ever. 1t is
almost deserted village, so many
houses are closed their occupants go
ing to the cities and elsewhere for the
winter.
MY mother is still with rs, and not
very we'll this winter. A bad cold and
cough linger, and she often says she
is mo good now" as she is
nearing the journeys end.
Where time and eternity meet and
blend"
But let me tell you of some of the
things she has been doing this winter.
Before Christmas she knitted shawl,
! made embroidered aprons for two
grandchildren, made an irish crocnet
chemise yoke for one daughter-in-la law,
and for another a fancy apron with
applique embroidery, knitted sport
suit with cap for doll for great
grandchild, and is now making a fancy
white batiste infants dress, with
sprays of French embroidery on top
| and bottom, and making every stitch
| of it by hand. On January II she Will
| be eighty years young. How is that
for one who calls herself mo good?'
Between periods of work she reads all
! the current magazines, and many
books. Besides fiction, she reads many
other things, and has just completed
Van Looms STORY of Mankind"
| think Phoebe's suggestion for
! get-together meeting between neigh
borhood sewing circles good one, but
how could we manage it, when Uncle
| Sans messengers can't even get
through with the dailies and the mail
order catalogues? Our Dorcas society
| has been able to meet regularly since