TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
AMERICAN LACE AND
LACE-MAKERS
PUBLISHED ON THE FOUNDATION
ESTABLISHED IN MEMORY OF
AMASA STONE MATHER
OF THE CLASS OF 1907 YALE COLLEGE
[Illustration: _Frontispiece._
Black net, embroidered with colored carnations, by Caroline Canfield
(Mrs. William Mackay). Owned by the Litchfield Historical Society of
Litchfield, Connecticut.]
AMERICAN LACE
&
LACE-MAKERS
BY
_Emily Noyes Vanderpoel_
_Author of “Color Problems” and “Chronicles of a Pioneer School.”_
EDITED BY
_Elizabeth C. Barney Buel, A.B._
[Illustration: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW HAVEN]
_New Haven, Yale University Press._
LONDON, HUMPHREY MILFORD, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
_Mcmxxiv._
_Copyright 1924 by Yale University Press._
_Printed in the United States of America._
THE AMASA STONE MATHER MEMORIAL PUBLICATION FUND
The present volume is the fifth work published by the Yale University
Press on the Amasa Stone Mather Memorial Publication Fund. This
Foundation was established August 25, 1922, by a gift to Yale
University from Samuel Mather, Esq., of Cleveland, Ohio, in pursuance
of a pledge made in June, 1922, on the fifteenth anniversary of the
graduation of his son, Amasa Stone Mather, who was born in Cleveland on
August 20, 1884, and was graduated from Yale College in the Class of
1907. Subsequently, after traveling abroad, he returned to Cleveland,
where he soon won a recognized position in the business life of the
city and where he actively interested himself also in the work of many
organizations devoted to the betterment of the community and to the
welfare of the nation. His death from pneumonia on February 9, 1920,
was undoubtedly hastened by his characteristic unwillingness ever to
spare himself, even when ill, in the discharge of his duties or in his
efforts to protect and further the interests committed to his care by
his associates.
To
Robert Swain Gifford
A real Artist
A wise Teacher
A true Friend
_AMERICAN LACE AND LACE-MAKERS_
CONTENTS
_List of Plates, Lace-makers, and Owners of Originals_ xiii
_Preface_ xix
_Introduction_ 1
_Plates and Descriptions_ 15
LIST OF PLATES, LACE-MAKERS, AND OWNERS OF ORIGINALS
In this List, the following abbreviations are used:
A.M.N.H. = American Museum of Natural History, New York City.
E.M. = Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.
L.H.S. = Litchfield Historical Society, Litchfield, Connecticut.
M.F.A. = Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.
M.M.A. = Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
S.C.I.L.A. = Sybil Carter Indian Lace Association, New York City.
_Number and Subject_ _Maker or Source_ _Ownership_
Frontispiece. Black net, Caroline Canfield L.H.S.
embroidered with (Mrs. William
colored carnations Mackay)
1. Lace-bark tree lace Jamaica Miss Edith Beach
2. (1) Peruvian lace bag Peruvian A.M.N.H.
(2) Peruvian lace Peruvian; prehistoric A.M.N.H.
3. Peruvian lace Peruvian; ancient Miss Marian
Powys
4. Eight lace bags Balienti Indians A.M.N.H.
5. Lace bag Balienti Indians A.M.N.H.
6. Details of lace bags Balienti Indians A.M.N.H.
7. Four lace bags Honduras Indians A.M.N.H.
8. Lace headdress Hopi Indian Miss Frances
Morris
9. (1) Porto Rican lace An aged Porto Rican L.H.S.
woman
(2) Porto Rican pillow Unknown L.H.S.
and bobbin lace
(3) Porto Rican pillow Unknown L.H.S.
and bobbin lace
10. Linen cut-work hand bag Oneida Indians S.C.I.L.A.
11. Bobbin lace pillow Oneida Indians S.C.I.L.A.
cover
12. Bobbin lace bed-spread Oneida Indians S.C.I.L.A.
13. Detail of the same
14. Lace pillow with Lydia Lakeman Miss Sarah E.
bobbins Lakeman
15. Ipswich patterns and Sarah Sutton Russell Miss Sarah E.
laces and Mrs. Thomas Lakeman
Caldwell
16. Ipswich laces Unknown Miss Sarah E.
Lakeman
17. _Réseaux_ of various Unknown E.M.
laces
18. Bobbins, thread, and Unknown E.M.
samples of Limerick
19. Samples of darned Mabel Roberts (Mrs. Miss Esther H.
laces Hezekiah Thompson) Thompson
20. Additional samples of Mabel Roberts (Mrs. Miss Esther H.
darned laces Hezekiah Thompson) Thompson
21. Embroidered collar Unknown Miss Esther H.
Thompson
22. Lace guimpe Unknown Miss Esther H.
Thompson
23. English darned net Ipswich, England Mrs. Guy Antrobus
laces (Mary Symonds)
24. Darned net veil Mrs. Thomas L. M.M.A.
Rushmore
25. White net dress skirt Cornelia Kingsland M.M.A.
(Mrs. Hatherly
Barstow)
26. White lace veil Catherine Roosevelt Miss Helena Knox
Kissam (Mrs.
Francis Armstrong
Livingston)
27. Detail of the same
28. Front of white lace Probably Catherine Miss Helena Knox
cap Roosevelt Kissam
(Mrs. Francis
Armstrong
Livingston)
29. Crown of the same
30. White lace veil Mary W. Peck (Mrs. L.H.S.
Edward D.
Mansfield)
31. Detail of the same
32. White lace veil Elizabeth Hannah L.H.S.
Canfield (Mrs.
Frederick Augustus
Tallmadge)
33. Detail of the same
34. Detail of white veil Probably Ellen L.H.S.
McBride (Mrs. Aaron
Vanderpoel)
35. Lace cap Elizabeth Hannah L.H.S.
Canfield (Mrs.
Frederick Augustus
Tallmadge)
36. Limerick trimming lace Limerick, Ireland L.H.S.
37. White lace veil Sarah Elizabeth Miss Marianna
Johnson (Mrs. Townsend
George Pollock
Devereux)
38. Detail of the same
39. Detail of a second Sarah Elizabeth Miss Marianna
veil by the same hand Johnson (Mrs. Townsend
George Pollock
Devereux)
40. English wedding veil An unknown member of Miss Clara Ray
the Stodart family
41. White lace veil Marietta, or Mary, L.H.S.
Smith
42. Detail of the same
43. Second detail of the
same
44. Black net shawl Mrs. John Savage L.H.S.
(Miss Barringer)
45. Detail of the same
46. (1) Black trimming Elizabeth, or Betsey, Mrs. Samuel H.
lace Peck (Mrs. Camp Street
Newton)
(2) Black trimming Pamela Parsons Mrs. Charles B.
lace Curtis
47. Black lace veil An unknown member of L.H.S.
the Buel family
48. Detail of the same
49. Black lace veil Polly Marsh Mrs. Lewis Marsh
50. Detail of a second Polly Marsh Mrs. Lewis Marsh
veil by the same hand
51. Black lace veil Either Caroline L.H.S.
Canfield (Mrs.
William Mackay) or
Elizabeth Hannah
Canfield (Mrs.
Frederick Augustus
Tallmadge)
52. Detail of the same
53. Detail of black lace Louisa Lewis (Mrs. L.H.S.
veil Henry Phelps)
54. Black lace veil Elizabeth Hannah L.H.S.
Canfield (Mrs.
Frederick Augustus
Tallmadge)
55. Detail of the same
56. Lace pillow and Nina Hall Brisbane L.H.S.
bobbins with black
trimming lace
57. Costume of 1825 Veil by Mary Bacon Mrs. Edward W.
(Mrs. Chauncey Preston
Whittlesey)
58. Lace cap Elsie Philips M.F.A.
59. Lace flounce on dress Charlotte Webster M.F.A.
skirt (Mrs. Charles
Sever)
60. Lace veil Delia I. Beals M.F.A.
61. Detail of the same
62. Embroidered kerchief Rachel Leonard M.F.A.
63. Infant’s embroidered Unknown Miss Katherine
cap Egbert
64. Embroidered waistcoat Unknown Mr. William S.
Eaton
65. Wedding-dress and Catherine Van Houten Mrs. William
marriage reception- (Mrs. Ralph Nelson
dress Doremus)
66. Detail of skirt of
wedding-dress in the
preceding
67. Details of waist of the
same
68. Wedding veil Catherine Van Houten Mrs. William
(Mrs. Ralph Nelson
Doremus)
69. Lady’s and infant’s Catherine Van Houten Mrs. William
cap (Mrs. Ralph Nelson
Doremus)
70. Collar or cape Catherine Van Houten Mrs. William
(Mrs. Ralph Nelson
Doremus)
71. White lace Mary Bacon (Mrs. L.H.S.
Chauncey
Whittlesey)
72. Silk net wedding veil Martha Harness (Mrs. Mrs. G. Glen Gould
Isaac Darst)
73. Embroidered collar Elizabeth Taylor L.H.S.
(Mrs. Andrew
Perkins)
74. (1) Lace cap Sybil (Bradley) Mrs. Samuel H.
Hotchkiss Street
(2) Embroidered collar Elizabeth, or Betsey, Mrs. Samuel H.
Peck Street
75. Fichu of Irish lace Sarah McCoon Vail L.H.S.
(Mrs. George Gould)
76. Patterns for borders Caroline Canfield L.H.S.
(Mrs. William
Mackay)
77. Design for cap Caroline Canfield L.H.S.
(Mrs. William
Mackay)
78. Copy of design from Caroline Canfield L.H.S.
Paris (Mrs. William
Mackay)
79. Ruffle embroidered for Caroline Canfield L.H.S.
wedding petticoat (Mrs. William
Mackay)
80. Design for embroidery Caroline Canfield L.H.S.
(Mrs. William
Mackay)
81. India mull dress Design by Caroline L.H.S.
Canfield (Mrs.
William Mackay)
82. India mull dress Ruth Freeman Packard Mrs. Ruth Quincy
(Mrs. George Trask) Powell
83. India mull dress skirt Louisa Lewis (Mrs. L.H.S.
Henry Phelps)
84. India mull dress skirt Louisa Lewis (Mrs. L.H.S.
Henry Phelps)
85. Handkerchief Eliza (Brock) Miss Edith Eliot
Mitchell
86. Bed curtains Polly Cheney L.H.S.
87. Waist of infant’s dress Elizabeth W. L.H.S.
Davenport
88. Front of skirt of the
same
89. Infant’s dress Mary W. Peck (Mrs. L.H.S.
Edward D.
Mansfield)
90. Six infant’s caps Mary Ann Laidlaw Mrs. Francis H.
(Mrs. Henry Buel) Blake and Miss
Katharine L.
Buel
91. (1) Knitted lace Mrs. Wilson Tingley Mrs. Charles
White William
Follett
(2) Pillow lace A California Indian L.H.S.
girl
(3) Pillow lace Probably Sarah L.H.S.
insertion Chedsey (Mrs.
Samuel Alling)
92. Black lace scarf Pamela Parsons Mrs. Charles B.
Curtis
93. Infant’s cap Isabella Woodbridge Mrs. Charles B.
Sheldon (Mrs. Curtis
George Lecky
Cornell)
94. Altar cloth of Greek Isabel Douglas Curtis Christ Church,
design (Mrs. Charles B. Rye
Curtis)
95. Detail of the same
96. Tape lace Isabel Douglas Curtis L.H.S.
(Mrs. Charles B.
Curtis)
97. Tape lace Rachel Tracy Noyes L.H.S.
(Mrs. Charles
Edward Whitehead)
98. Tape lace and darned Esther Thompson Miss Esther H.
net Thompson
99. Tape laces Mrs. Butterworth Miss Esther H.
Thompson
100. Table cover Mrs. Hannah MacLaren Unknown
Shepherd-Wolff
101. Filet lace in frame Sarah Belknap (Mrs. Miss Edith Beach
Edward Rowland)
102. Filet lace Elsie Belknap (Mrs. Miss Edith Beach
R. E. K. Whiting)
103. Chalice-veil Margaret Taylor Unknown
Johnstone
104. (1) Pattern and Edith Beach Miss Edith Beach
sample of pillow lace
(2) Bobbin lace made on a Edith Beach Miss Edith Beach
pillow
105. Pillow lace for a fan Edith Beach Miss Edith Beach
106. Venetian point lace Edith Beach Miss Edith Beach
and pattern
107. (1) Machine-made net Dean Walker Miss Sophia A.
Walker
(2) Machine-made net Dean Walker Miss Sophia A.
with stitches Walker
dropped
108. (1) Trimming lace on Clarissa Richardson Miss Sophia A.
machine-made net Walker
(2) Trimming lace on Julia Adams (Mrs. Miss Sophia A.
machine-made net Horatio Mason) Walker
109. Cap embroidered on Julia Adams (Mrs. Miss Sophia A.
machine-made net Horatio Mason) Walker
110. Medal awarded to Dean William T. Walker
Walker
PREFACE
Grateful acknowledgment is due all those who have contributed the fine
material from which the plates for this book have been made. They have
been most generous in giving and in lending the laces and embroideries
and in furnishing facts and details as to the making of them. There
is a wealth of material in the country which we are not able to show
for want of space. We desire to express our gratitude to the following
contributors:
Miss Edith Beach,
Miss Marian Powys,
Miss Esther H. Thompson,
Miss Sarah E. Lakeman,
Miss Helena Knox,
Miss Marianna Townsend,
Miss Clara Ray,
Miss Natalie Lincoln,
Miss Edith Eliot,
Miss Emily Wheeler,
Miss Frances Morris,
The Misses Alice and Edith Kingsbury,
Mrs. Charles B. Curtis,
Mrs. Lewis Marsh,
Mrs. Guy Antrobus (Mary Symonds),
Mrs. William Nelson,
Mrs. Edward W. Preston,
Mrs. Ruth Quincy Powell,
Mrs. Samuel H. Street,
Mrs. Charles W. Follett,
Mrs. Francis H. Blake,
Miss Sophia A. Walker,
Miss Margaret Taylor Johnstone,
Sybil Carter Indian Lace Association, New York City,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City,
American Museum of Natural History, New York City,
New York Public Library,
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts,
Litchfield Historical Society, Litchfield, Connecticut.
The few books that have contributed their share to the work deserve
mention. They may be consulted by those who wish more data as to the
making of lace in general and as to the dates and details of the
invention of machine-made lace, the importation into the United States
of the machinery with which to make it, and the consequent excitement
in both England and New England.
Fine Thread, Lace and Hosiery in Ipswich, by Jesse Fewkes; and
Ipswich Mills and Factories, by T. Frank Waters. (Proceedings of
the Ipswich Historical Society.) The Salem Press Company.
Point and Pillow Lace, by Mary Sharp. Dutton.
Development of Embroidery in America, by Candace Thurber Wheeler.
Harper.
Practical Book of Early American Arts and Crafts, by Harold
Donaldson Eberlein and Abbott McClure; with a chapter on early
lace by Mabel Foster Bainbridge. Lippincott.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition. Article on Lace.
Too late for inclusion in the body of this volume, there came to the
author the exquisite Washington-Lafayette handkerchief which has been
photographically reproduced as a design for the binding. The original
was worked in New Orleans by a French lady—possibly a Creole, for it
is known that the Creoles of that city were remarkably expert with the
needle. Its conjectural date is 1825–1830: most of the embroidery of
its type was done between 1820 and 1840, and it is wholly probable that
the direct impetus of this example was nothing other than Lafayette’s
famous triumphal visit of 1824. The original is now owned by the
Litchfield Historical Society, of Litchfield, Connecticut.
_AMERICAN LACE AND LACE-MAKERS_
INTRODUCTION
As many things can be better understood and appreciated from pictures
than from even a glowing description, so the lace made by the deft
fingers of many an American woman cannot be portrayed in words, but
must be pictured before it can be appreciated. The half-tone process
can reproduce it so perfectly by copper and acid that one is almost
deceived into believing that the actual fabric lies on the paper. The
plates in this book will tell of the patient, persevering, artistic
women with whom we are more apt to associate only the drudgery of
household work done with the heavy and often clumsy tools of a hundred
years ago.
From _Point and Pillow Lace_, an excellent work by A. M. S. (Mrs.
Sharp), published in London, 1899, by John Murray, from which we shall
have occasion to quote again, we take the following definition: “The
English word Lace is taken from the French ‘Lacis,’ a term, however,
which, when properly used, denotes only the Italian work, ‘Punto a
maglia,’ or Darned netting. There are two distinct kinds of Hand-made
lace: first, Lace made with the needle, that is Needle-point lace,
under which heading the above-mentioned Darned netting may be included,
and secondly, Lace made on a pillow with bobbins, that is Pillow lace.”
Both of these kinds of lace have been made in America, but a third
kind existed there, indigenous to the soil. Few people know of it,
but botanists and travellers will testify to the fact. In the island
of Jamaica grows the lace-bark tree, botanically named _Lagetta
lintearia_. It has an outer bark. Strip that off and you will find
an inner bark consisting of fold after fold of lace, white in color,
delicate but strong in texture, looking much like fine net but with a
different mesh. It can be used with dress goods and for small mats. It
is even strong enough, when tightly twisted, for the lash of a whip.
This lace must have been growing in America long before the white man
ever set foot on these shores.
On investigation we find that in Peru, South America, the first
American hand-made lace extant was found. The more we study the
civilization of Peru the higher it appears. Many wonderful things have
been dug out of the old tombs. Peruvian craftsmanship is particularly
shown by its textiles, of which the Museum of Natural History in New
York City has a large collection. It is affirmed there that no finer
thread has ever been spun in the world than that of which an especially
delicate piece of Peruvian weaving is made. The designs of these
textiles are primitive but beautiful, and the colors are not surpassed
for their quality and harmony by those of any other country, though
they are thousands of years old.
When we turn, then, to the Indians of the West, North, and South,
careful observation shows that the Papagos of lower California, the
Hopis, and the Balientis made laces. These Indian laces, generally made
of vegetable fiber, are original and ornamental. They, too, are to be
found in the Museum of Natural History in New York City.
We are fortunate in being able to give illustrations of these early
laces. We do not know the technique of their making, but they must
belong to the pillow and bobbin type, even if some kind of frame was
used to weave them over, instead of a pillow. Some of them resemble
the “punto a groppo,” or knotted lace, made early in Italy and revived
not long ago in what is called macramé, much of which has been made of
heavy linen or cotton thread.
In this connection it is interesting to find that Indians are apt
pupils in lace-making. Trying to find some way of helping the North
American Indians, Miss Sybil Carter went to Italy and learned the
Italian methods of lace and cut-work making. She had a true missionary
spirit, and on carrying this industry to the Indians, as she did
quite successfully, she obtained results beyond her hopes. The work
even led to many improvements in the Indians’ way of living, such as
cleanliness, better clothing, and more comfortable homes. The agent
for this work has a shop in Park Avenue, New York City, and finds a
good market for it. Samples of the work have kindly been lent for
illustration.
Coming now to the subject of lace among the first white settlers in
America, it is quite evident from portraits and from the remains of
garments worn by them that some of them brought to this country not
only good but rich and dainty clothes. The sumptuary laws, passed
early in colonial times against excessive ornament worn by either
men or women, give proof of this and correct the assumption that the
appearance of our ancestors was either severe or commonplace. It is
amusing to read these laws as well as the accounts of the clothes worn
on special occasions by people who actually lived in simple huts. The
Museum of Fine Arts in Boston contains a suit worn on training days by
the first governor of Massachusetts, made of gay and superb brocade;
and nothing could be richer in men’s clothing than another suit, also
in the same museum, consisting of knee breeches, coat of purple velvet,
and white satin waistcoat, all three largely covered with the richest
embroidery. It was made to be worn by the governor when he went as
ambassador to the Court of Spain, and it is still in perfect condition.
Letters of the time speak of the use of lace. We must infer, then,
that women who had learned in England to make a delicate trimming for
clothing would be in demand in the colonies, both to practice and to
teach the art. Although very little is known of this early lace-making,
it is a matter of record that a good deal of lace was made in the town
of Ipswich, Massachusetts. We find the following in the old history of
that town written by Felt, the earliest record we have:
LACE: This of thread and silk, was made in large quantities and
for a long period by girls and women.
It was formed on a Lap Pillow, which had a piece of parchment
wound round it with the particular figure, represented by pins
stuck up straight, around which the work was done and the lace
wrought.
Black as well as white lace was manufactured of various widths,
qualities and pieces. The females of almost every family would
pass their leisure hours in such employment.
1790. No less than 41,979 yards were made here annually. After
the first lace factory commenced, the pillows and bobbins were
soon laid aside.
What of these survive a century hence will be viewed as curious
emblems of industry, and mementoes of labor performed in months,
which is now done in a factory in a day.
That lace-makers came to this country from the Midland counties of
England, such as Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire, we know from
the town records as well as from the lace they made—lace which was
originally peculiar to those counties. We are told that they were the
only lace-makers in the world to use bobbins made of bamboo. The bamboo
had undoubtedly come across the sea with the many oriental treasures to
be found along the Massachusetts coast. Strict laws were made by the
colonists obliging a certain number to spin, to take care of sheep, and
to save the seed of flax and hemp.
Children were taught when very young the principles of lace-making,
so that by twelve years of age they were able to earn their living by
that means. We read that Bishop Alexander V. Griswold, one of the first
Episcopal bishops in this country, could and did, at five years of age,
make “bone lace,” a quaint term for pillow lace. The name of “bone
lace” was given because bobbins were made of chicken bones. All the
young people were trained thus early in habits of constant industry.
Little of this lace seems to be in existence, but enough remains to
prove that in the North lace and lace-making came from England. As the
Spaniards were early lace-makers, presumably the art may also have
come into North America through the Spanish settlers in Mexico, and so
on through New Orleans and the Southern States; but it is not so easy
to trace as that by the way of Massachusetts. Happily, a pillow and
bobbins used there by an early maker of lace, as well as samples of the
lace itself, are still to be seen in the town of Ipswich, and have been
photographed for our benefit.
The making of pillow lace in Ipswich seems to have come to an end
rather suddenly, owing to the appearance of net made by machine. The
origin of machine-made net is lost in an obscurity of conflicting
authorities. It is known, however, that a workman in a stocking factory
in Nottingham, England, about 1760, scrutinized the pillow lace on his
wife’s cap and conceived a plan whereby he could copy its foundation
net on a stocking frame. The resultant machine was improved upon by
several inventors in turn until a good net could be produced. On this
net the women worked with darning and tambour stitches—tambour being a
sort of chain stitch—until quite an industry sprang up in the country.
This kind of lace acquired the name of Limerick; for, to quote again
from _Point and Pillow Lace_, “The manufacture was transferred to
Ireland in the year 1829 by Mr. Charles Walker, who, while studying
for Holy Orders, married the daughter of a lace manufacturer, and
either moved by philanthropy, or as a speculation, took over to Ireland
twenty-four girls to teach the work and settled them in Limerick. It
is in reality of French origin, being the same as the ‘Broderies de
Luneville’ which have been produced in France since 1800.” It is also
found in Spain and Italy. The art has flourished in Limerick to this
day, as is shown by Plate 36, photographed from a sample recently
imported and sold by Arnold, Constable & Company, of New York City.
That the same kind of lace came to this country before it went to
Limerick is established by the dates of the making of some of the
samples shown in our illustrations.
Grave troubles, extending even to rioting, broke out between the pillow
lace-makers and the machine lace-makers, and between those who wanted
to come to America and bring their machines with them and those who
wished them to stay at home. Details can be found in books named in our
Preface. However, the manufacture of net and that of stockings became
established at Ipswich and continued simultaneously until lately, when
that of the net died out.
While the proofs of this Introduction were being read, some valuable
data were brought to the author’s attention by Miss Sophia A. Walker,
who was for many years a teacher of art in New York City. Certain
matters of her family history establish the existence of another
headquarters for the manufacture of American lace, samples from which
are shown in Plates 107–109. Miss Walker says:
“It surprised one reader of Mrs. Candace Wheeler’s book on embroidery
to be informed that it is not known how the lace industry came into
this country—possibly, it was thought, through the French settlements
of Canada, perhaps through Mexico and New Orleans—for she had supposed
that everybody knew what she had known from childhood: that bobbins,
net, footing, and cards full of beading, or purling, were made by
her grandfather, Dean Walker; also that a cap of this net, with a
two-and-a-half-inch edge, was embroidered for herself by Julia Adams,
wife of Horatio Mason, her maternal grandfather! So she gives here
the true story of the rise—and fall—of the lace industry at Medway,
Massachusetts, on the upper reaches of the Charles River, as told in
the reminiscences of her father, Rev. Horace Dean Walker (1815–1885),
and of her mother, Mercy Adams Mason Walker (1823–1923), supplemented
by Orion Mason, the town historian, who has kindly furnished dates and
facts.
“Dean Walker, a man of immense energy, made machinery on the Medway. He
was also associated there with his father, Comfort Walker, in cotton
and grist mills founded in 1818 (the year in which the Stars and
Stripes became the national flag) and in other enterprises.
“Among these was the making of ‘coach lace,’ a fine gimp from three
to five inches wide, used to trim hacks and coaches. Two Englishmen,
brothers named Bestrick, a machinist and a weaver, were in their
employ. These two talked so much about the lace machines of the old
country that Dean Walker agreed to support their families while they
built such a machine, after which he and they were to manufacture in
partnership. They made a machine of 1260 shuttles, which people came
leagues to see. Dean Walker himself was inventor of a sewing machine;
a patent for car wheels, signed by Andrew Jackson, was in the family
archives; and he received from the Franklin Institute of the State
of Pennsylvania the award of a silver medal [still preserved by the
family; see Plate 110] for his lace. It is, then, reasonable to infer
that his wit as well as his purse helped in the making of that machine.
“The net was woven and the decoration of it taught in a stone building
which he erected, and which is still standing in Hillside Court. It is
known as the Lace Shop, though occupied as a dwelling-house by a Polish
family. The net was carried about to neighboring farms and villages to
be embroidered. Only last summer my mother told me with what zest her
mother and her aunt would hasten the morning’s household routine so
that they might sit down to those fascinating embroidery frames. One
cannot but feel that her gracious ways, refinement, and feeling for
beauty, continuing through a life of more than a hundred years, were
nurtured by the atmosphere of that lovely home industry.
“We know that James Bestrick came to Medway in 1823. He moved away in
1830. When the tariff was removed, the infant industry died an untimely
death.”
We learn that Limerick lace had a great vogue in parts of the United
States from about 1810 to 1840. It would seem that the wearing of the
poke bonnet dictated by fashion about that time must have greatly
encouraged the making of the large veils which every woman wanted to
have hanging from her hat and down her side. They were seemingly made
everywhere, in city, in country, even in remote farmhouses. It is said
that Miss Porter of the famous Farmington School wore one as long as
she lived, “because,” she said, “it is so convenient to use if you have
any occasion to blush.”
In the early schools for girls more attention seems to have been given
to instruction in needlework, lace-making, and embroidery than to
anything else except manners and deportment. Before the Revolution a
boarding school was kept in Philadelphia, in Second Street near Walnut,
by a Mrs. Sarah Wilson, who advertised thus:
Young ladies may be educated in a genteel manner, and pains taken
to teach them in regard to their behaviour, on reasonable terms.
They may be taught all sorts of fine needlework, viz., working on
catgut or flowering muslin, sattin stitch, quince stitch, tent
stitch, crossstitch, open work, tambour, embroidering curtains
or chairs, writing and cyphering. Likewise waxwork in all its
several branches, never as yet particularly taught here; also
how to take profiles in wax, to make wax flowers and fruits and
pin-baskets.
We also quote the following from _Diary of a Boston School Girl_, by
Alice Morse Earle (page 105):
Madam Smith was evidently Anna’s teacher in sewing. The duties
pertaining to a sewing school were, in those days, no light
matter. From an advertisement of one I learn that there were
taught at these schools:
“All kinds of Needleworks, viz: point, Brussels, Dresden, Gold,
Silver and Silk Embroidery of every kind. Tambour, Feather,
India and Darning, Spriggins with a Variety of Open-work to
each. Tapestry plain, lined and drawn. Catgut, black and white,
with a number of beautiful Stitches. Diaper and Plain Darnings.
French Quiltings, Knitting, Various Sorts of markings with the
Embellishments of Royal cross, Plain cross, Queen, Irish and Tent
Stitches.”
In _Chronicles of a Pioneer School_, by E. N. Vanderpoel, Mrs. Phebe
Augustus Ely Avery writes thus of her aunt:
I can tell you little that can be of use to you of my Aunt
Caroline [Ely]. I know that she had a school for young ladies and
taught painting, embroidery, working lace, etc. but she married
before my remembrance Mr. Joel Steele and went to Bloomfield, N. J.,
to reside, and I saw her but seldom until the latter part of
her life.
She lived to be ninety years of age and retained her love for
embroidery and various kinds of fancy work, almost to the last;
doing beautiful work, when nearly, or quite eighty.
She was a great reader and well posted always on past and current
events.
A careful examination of the laces and embroideries done by our
forebears proves them to have been not only artists—for many drew their
own designs—but also most careful and conscientious craftswomen. Do
we wonder at it when we consider the way in which they were brought
up? To give some idea of their training, we will quote from diaries
of pupils of Miss Sarah Pierce in the Litchfield Academy, Litchfield,
Connecticut, from 1792 to 1833. Bear in mind that this academy was not
like the boarding schools of today. There was no dormitory. The girls
were boarded in the homes of Litchfield families. At the same time the
town was full of young men students attending Judge Reeve’s law school,
the first founded in the United States. These young men were also
boarded in homes. Henry Ward Beecher writes in his _Life_: “Equally
marked was Litchfield at that day for its social and moral as for its
natural advantages. The law school of Judges Reeve and Gould, and the
young ladies’ school of the Misses Pierce, made it an educational
center scarcely second in the breadth of its influence to any in the
land, and attracted a class of residents of high social position.”
Lucy Sheldon, born in Litchfield in 1788, daughter of Dr. Daniel
Sheldon, a well-known Connecticut physician, writes thus in her diary
at the age of fourteen:
Monday. This day Miss Pierce began her school I attended,
resolving to renew my former studies with greater assiduity
than ever, and shall endeavor to improve enough to merit the
approbation of my Parents and instructress, Painted on my
picture of the hop gatherers, and read grammar.... Friday,
Painted and read, Heard Miss Pierce tell our faults, had the
pleasure to hear her say she had seen no fault in me for the week
past.... Saturday, Painted and read in the explanation of the
Catechism.... Sunday; In the afternoon read in Baron Haller’s
letters to his daughter ... attended meeting.... Tuesday; Rose
at sunrise, attended school, learnt a grammar lesson, & wrote my
Journal, In the afternoon painted and spelt.
Saturday, [Miss Pierce] read a sermon from Blair particularly
addressed to young people which recommended the necessity of
being pious & industrious.... Have done nothing for these
two or three weeks past worth notice except, having read
through pilgrim’s progress, which I admire very much, and Lord
Chesterfield’s Letters to his Son and think it would be well for
every young Lady to read it....
Sunday. Did not attend meeting on account of the weather, In the
evening read in Don Quixote and am pleased with his factious
humor and Sancho’s credulous disposition. Sunday. Read ten
chapters in the Bible, attended meeting all day, & heard two
very good sermons, read twenty chapters in the Bible after
meeting, Monday. Began to write the history of Rome.... Thursday.
Attended a private school ball. Saturday. Copied history, recited
geography, and heard our faults told ... have had the honor of
being chosen candidate for the prize, In the afternoon copied
plays for Miss Pierce, In the evening read. Monday. Had the
pleasure of finding Miss —— at our house, assisted in getting
tea, & spent the evening very agreeably.
Tuesday. In the evening copied my part of _Ruth_ [a play written
by Miss Pierce for her pupils to act]....
Thursday. Rehearsed my part, drew on my map & wrote. Friday, was
fast, attended meeting all day, Thought Mr. Huntington preached
better than I had ever heard him before. Saturday. Drew on my map
and rehearsed my part, heard the young ladies say their plays.
1803. Saturday, Feb. 4th.... Heard Miss Pierce read us a piece on
discretion from the _Spectator_ which I admired very much, In the
afternoon sewed.
Wednesday 8th.... I took a music lesson.
Saturday 11th. Wrote and did some plain sewing in the afternoon
mended, In the evening read twelve Chapters in the Bible.
Saturday 26th. Came to school, took a music lesson, and returned
home again, for the past week I have studied three geography
lessons and two grammar lessons, have attended ciphering one
evening, having been sick, the greater part of the week, spent
the remainder of the day in doing nothing we had this week,
studied Egypt, etc. I have heard the history read twice this week.
Saturday 12th.... sewed, read 35 pages in Homer’s Iliad.
Saturday, 19th, Have studied for the week past two geography
lessons, painted and made a frock, been to ciphering three
evenings, I have studied the Latitude of every kingdom, and
island in the world.
Saturday 26th.... spent as usual in studying geography, hearing
the history & painting ... have studied the boundaries of the
seas & description of the New England States etc., Miss Pierce
gave me 9 credit marks for my frock....
Lucy Sheldon married Theron Beach, and continued to live in her
father’s house to the age of one hundred years. Her water-color of the
Hop Pickers hangs there still.
Diary of Mary Bacon, of Roxbury, Connecticut, in the fifteenth year of
her age:
I left Roxbury at eleven o’clock Thursday June 10 1802,
accompanied by my Father after riding about ten miles we stopped
at Mr. Mosely about three o’clock where we refreshed ourselves
and mounted our horses about four ... saw many beautiful meadows
and the little birds warbling sweet notes ... we reach’d
Litchfield about Six o’clock. Papa got me into Board at Mr.
Andrew Adams’s.
Monday, June 4. arose about half past five took a walk with Miss
Adams to Mr. Smith’s to speak for an embroidery frame after
breakfast went to school heard the young Ladies read history
studied a Geography lesson and recited it. Afternoon I read
and spelt, after my return home my employment was writing and
studying I spent the evening with Mrs. Adams....
Sunday June 27th Mrs. Adams in the afternoon read in Moral
Entertainments which were excellent. After meeting read in the
book called female education....
Thursday July 1 ... took a lesson in music, returned to Mr.
Adams, pricked off 2 or three tunes....
Wednesday July 7 had the pleasure of attending independence
ball....
Saturday July the 10 ... in the Afternoon went to Parson
Champion’s with the young Ladies to quilting....
July 14th Arose at four wrote two Letters....
Wednesday July 21st Arose at half past four O’clock took a lesson
in music at five in the morning.
July 27th ... heard Mrs. Adams good advice....
Wednesday.... Miss Pierce drew my landscape....
Friday August 27th ... school was dismissed at four went to
dansing school....
Friday Sept 3rd ... got me a white vail....
Thursday September 9th 1802 ... spent the Rest of The Day in
writing my Gurnal Spent The Eavening in Picking wool....
Tuesday September 14 1802.... I Neglected my Gurnal Ever Since I
received my Piano Fort the 9 of October [September?].
From Caroline Chester’s diary, 1815 (she was fifteen years old):
Dec. 19th It is one of Miss Pierce’s rules to have her scholars
rise before sunrise and Dr. Swift observes “that he never knew
any man to come to greatness and eminence who lay in bed of a
morning.” Czar Peter, a famous philosopher, used to rise to see
the morning break, and used to say that he wondered how a man
could be so stupid as not to rise to see the most glorious sight
in the universe; that they took delight in looking at a beautiful
picture, the trifling work of a mortal, but neglected one painted
by the hand of the Deity.
Miss Pierce formulated a set of rules for her pupils, copies of which,
belonging to several of them, are still extant. These rules, made in
1825, show Miss Pierce to have felt that all actions, small and great,
should be controlled by the highest principles. From a copy made by
Sarah Kingsbury, of Waterbury, we take the following:
(1) You are expected to rise early and be drest neatly, to
exercise before breakfast and to retire to rest when the family
in which you reside desire you to and you must consider it a
breach of politeness if you are requested a second time to rise
in the morning or retire in the evening.
(2) You are requested not only to exercise in the morning but
also in the evening sufficiently for the preservation of health.
(3) It is expected that you never detain the family by
unnecessary delay either at meals or family prayers; to be absent
when grace is asked at table and when the family have assembled
to read the word of God and to solicit His favour discovers a
want of reverence to His holy name, a cold and insensible heart
which feels no gratitude for the innumerable benefits received
daily from his hand.
(4) It is expected as rational and immortal beings that you
read a portion of the scripture both morning and evening with
meditation and prayer, that you never read the word of God
lightly or make use of any scriptural phrase in a light manner.
(5) It is expected that you attend public worship every Sabbath
unless some unavoidable circumstance prevent which you dare to
offer as a sufficient apology in the day of Judgment.
(6) Your deportment must be grave and decent while in the house
of God and you must remember that all light conduct in a place of
worship is offensive to well-bred people and highly displeasing
to your Maker and Preserver.
(7) The Sabbath must be kept holy, no part of it wasted in sloth,
frivolous conversation or light reading. Remember dear youth that
for every hour, but particularly for the hours of the Sabbath you
must give an account to God.
(8) Every hour during the week must be fully occupied either in
useful employment or rational amusement while out of school; two
hours must be employed each day in close study and every hour
during the week must be fully occupied.
(9) No person must interrupt their companions either in school
or in the hours devoted to study by talking, laughing, or any
unnecessary noise.
(10) Those hours devoted to any particular occupation must
not be devoted to any other employment. Nothing great can be
accomplished without attention to order and regularity.
(11) The truth must be spoken at all times, on all occasions
though it might appear advantageous to tell a falsehood.
(12) You must suppress all emotion of anger and discontent.
Remembering how many blessings God is continually bestowing upon
you for which he requires not only contentment but a cheerful
temper.
(13) You are expected to be polite in your manners, neat in your
person and room, careful of your books and clothes, attentive to
economy in all your expenses.
Under such influences and guided by such principles our American
lace-makers grew up. These Litchfield schoolgirls were typical of
their class. If we wonder at the quantity and beauty of the lace of a
hundred years ago, we must remember how little amusement there was for
young people. There were few books and newspapers, no afternoon teas,
no bridge, no movies, few theaters, and no matinées; so that a quiet
afternoon with time to design and carry to a finish an embroidered
collar for one’s best gown, or a lace veil with which to decorate one’s
Sunday bonnet, was a great pleasure.
An interesting fact about American lace is that it has been so little
commercialized. At Ipswich “Aunt Mollie” Caldwell called once a week
at the houses where the pillow lace was made, took it to Boston by
stagecoach, and brought back the tea, coffee, sugar, French calico,
etc., needed by the makers; but the lace-bark tree grew at its own
sweet will in Jamaica, the Indians made their lace for use or adornment
when the spirit moved them, and in the intervals of hard household
work our young women relieved the pressure by making for their own
or a friend’s costume, or for decoration, some dainty bit of lace
or embroidery not to be bought in shops. (It has been impossible to
refrain from adding samples of embroidery to the lace selected for
illustration, as the two have been so much combined.) The same spirit
has presided over American lace-making to this day.
An excellent further illustration of the principles in which the
American lace-makers of many years ago were trained is to be found in a
set of six little manuals for all kinds of needlework, published in New
York in 1843:
_J. S. Redfield, Clinton Hall, Corner of Nassau and Beekman
streets. Publishes, and has for sale, wholesale and retail, the
following popular books_:
LADIES’ HAND-BOOKS.
A series of hand-books for Ladies, edited by an American
Lady—elegantly bound with fancy covers and gilt edges. Imperial
32mo.
No. 1. Baby Linen—Containing Plain and Ample Instructions for the
preparation of an Infant’s Wardrobe; with engraved patterns.
“Indispensable to the young wife.”—_World of Fashion._
No. 2. Plain Needlework—Containing Clear and Ample Instructions
whereby to attain proficiency in every department of this most
Useful Employment; with engravings.
“It should be read by every housekeeper, and is highly useful to
the single lady.”—_Ladies’ Court Circular._
No. 3. Fancy Needlework and Embroidery—Containing Plain and
Ample Directions whereby to become a perfect Mistress of those
delightful Arts; with engravings.
“The directions are plain and concise, and we can honestly
recommend the volume to every reader.”—_New La Belle Assemblee._
No. 4. Knitting, Netting, & Crochet—Containing Plain Directions
by which to become proficient in those branches of Useful and
Ornamental Employment; with engravings.
“A more useful work can hardly be desired.”—_Court Gazette._
No. 5. Embroidery on Muslin and Lacework, and Tatting—Containing
Plain Directions for the Working of Leaves, Flowers, and other
Ornamental Devices; fully illustrated by Engravings.
“It should find its way into every female school.”—_Gazette of
Education._
No. 6. Millinery and Dressmaking—Containing Plain Instructions
for making the most useful Articles of Dress and Attire; with
engraved patterns.
“In this age of economy, we are glad to welcome this practical
book.”—_La Belle Assemblee._
The first volume opens with a rhapsody on the birth of an infant,
followed by minute directions for the cutting and making of its little
garments. In the next volume, on “The Art of Plain Needlework,” we find
an
INTRODUCTION:
To become an expert needle-woman should be an object of ambition
to every lady. Never is beauty and feminine grace so attractive
as when engaged in the honorable discharge of household duties
and domestic cares. The subject treated of in this little manual
is one of vast importance, and to which we are indebted for
a large amount of the comforts we enjoy; as without its aid
we should be reduced to a state of misery and destitution, of
which it is hardly possible to form an adequate conception. To
learn, then, how to fabricate articles of dress and utility for
family use, or, in the case of ladies blessed with the means of
affluence, for the aid and comfort of the deserving poor, should
form one of the most prominent branches of female education.
And yet experience must have convinced those who are at all
conversant with the general state of society, that it is a
branch of study to which nothing like due attention is paid in
the usual routine of school instruction. The effects of this are
often painfully apparent in after life, when, from a variety of
circumstances, such knowledge would be of the highest advantage,
and subservient to the noblest ends, either of domestic comfort
or of active benevolence.
The records of history inform us of the high antiquity of the
art of needlework, and its beautiful mysteries were among
the earliest developments of female taste and ingenuity. As
civilization increased, new wants called forth new exertions: the
loom poured forth its multifarious materials, and the needle,
with its accompanying implements, gave form and utility to the
fabrics submitted to its operations. No one can look upon the
NEEDLE without emotion: it is a constant companion throughout the
pilgrimage of life. We find it the first instrument of use placed
in the hand of budding childhood, and it is found to retain its
usefulness and charm even when trembling in the grasp of fast
declining age....
In the first chapter of the same volume we read:
To secure economy of time, labor, and expense ... the lady who
intends to engage in the domestic employment of preparing the
linen necessary for personal and family use, should be careful
to have all her materials ready ... before commencing work. The
materials are ... well known.... We shall therefore proceed at
once to give plain directions by which any lady may soon become
expert in this necessary department of household uses, merely
observing, that a neat work-box well supplied ... should be
provided, and ... furnished with a lock and key....
The lady being thus provided, and having her materials,
implements, &c., placed in order upon her work-table, to the edge
of which, it is an advantage to have a pincushion affixed by
means of a screw, may commence her work, and proceed with it with
pleasure to herself, and without annoyance to any visiter [_sic_]
who may favor her with a call. We would recommend, wherever
practicable, that the work-table should be made of cedar, and
that the windows of the working parlor should open into a garden,
well supplied with odoriferous flowers and plants, the perfume
of which, will materially cheer the spirits of those especially
whose circumstances compel them to devote the greatest portion
of their time to sedentary occupations. If these advantages can
not be obtained, at least the room should be well ventilated, and
furnished with a few cheerful plants, and a well-filled scent-jar.
These suggestions are followed by directions for making underclothes
and bed linen and by pictures of various stitches, so carefully
described as to be quite clear to anyone. There follows the
CONCLUSION: