romance which saddened without spoiling her life, are interestingly
portrayed in _The Salt Box House_, published some years ago. At
thirteen years of age she was taken to Miss Pierce’s Female Academy at
Litchfield, Connecticut, where her father left her with the admonition,
“Never forget your accountability,” and where she made satisfactory
progress in her studies. The tone of mind of the day can be understood
from a letter written to her father. Returning from school by stage
coach, she recorded her arrival at a friend’s house in New Haven, where
she was to await him. She wrote that there had been ten passengers
in the coach, all but two of them ladies, and that the tedium of the
journey had been relieved by the ladies’ taking turns in reading aloud
an essay on “Good Behavior”!
Without doubt she learned at Miss Pierce’s school to make the veil
shown in these plates; for Miss Mary W. Peck, who made her own wedding
veil (see Plates 30, 31, and 89), was a teacher there.
The family was a social one. We read of the white crêpe frock which
Marietta Smith had for a ball-dress in her fifteenth year. The romance
of her life took place at seventeen, when she met a young Southerner.
A mutual affection brought them together, but the two natures did not
quite understand each other. They parted; but when he died, three years
later, she realized her mistake with uncontrollable grief and was
faithful to his memory during all her life. She had many other lovers;
she read and studied, became interested in music and other things,
visited and travelled; but “through all her long life the love of her
youth remained a potent factor,” though she was never a grim old maid.
Miss Mary began keeping a journal—in a desultory way at first; later,
as years passed, as one of the important interests of her life. She
chronicles her father’s and mother’s deaths in a loving fashion. Living
alone became more and more satisfactory. She wrote: “I take a world of
comfort all alone in my house; nobody makes me afraid, even if they
molest me in a gossiping way.... Staying in my own house in solitary
state is very pleasant to me, but worries my neighbors.” The love of
travel became a ruling power. The elegancies of life appealed strongly
to Miss Mary. She was a welcome guest in many a great house. “The spell
of intellect and culture is always irresistible to me,” she wrote; and
“there are a great many ‘field-days’ in society. I love these musters
at home and abroad, and in my day and generation have VIBRATED through
a great number. I occasionally join the gay circles, taking into
consideration the expediency of airing my manners, to make sure I am
modern and extant!” “Trimmed my borders and cut my grass this morning,
trimmed my self in my royal robes this afternoon and made calls.”
The veil was given to the Litchfield Historical Society by the Misses
Alice and Edith Kingsbury, of Waterbury, Connecticut.]
[Illustration: _Plate 42._
Detail of veil shown in Plate 41.]
[Illustration: _Plate 43._
Detail of veil shown in Plates 41 and 42.]
[Illustration: _Plate 44._
Black net shawl, unfinished, 45 inches square. Begun about 1830 by Mrs.
John Savage (Miss Barringer). She lived in New York City, at the corner
of Varick and Franklin streets. Mr. John Savage was born at Portland,
Connecticut. He was a vestryman of Christ Church, New York City. He
died in 1845. The black lace seems to be entirely of silk net worked
with silk of excellent quality, for it has kept well in both color
and texture. (See also Plate 45.) Owned by the Litchfield Historical
Society.]
[Illustration: _Plate 45._
Detail of shawl shown in Plate 44.]
[Illustration: _Plate 46._
_Figure 1_ (at left). Black trimming lace. Worked by Elizabeth, or
Betsey, Peck, of Woodbridge, Connecticut, and worn on a velvet cloak.
She married Camp Newton in 1798. (See also Plate 74, _Figure 2_.) Owned
by her granddaughter, Mrs. Samuel H. Street, of Woodbridge, Connecticut.
_Figure 2._ Black trimming lace worked by Pamela Parsons. (See Plate
92.) Owned by Mrs. Charles B. Curtis. (See descriptions of Plates
93–96.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 47._
Black veil, 40 inches wide by 21 inches long. From the Buel family of
Litchfield, Connecticut. Date probably 1830. Owned by the Litchfield
Historical Society.]
[Illustration: _Plate 48._
Detail of veil shown in Plate 47.]
[Illustration: _Plate 49._
Black lace veil, 27 inches long by 86 inches wide. Made by Polly Marsh,
daughter of Elisha and Rhoda Kilbourn Marsh, about 1830. She was born
December 9, 1804, and died January 8, 1892. She lived about three miles
north of Litchfield, Connecticut, on the Goshen road, in a farmhouse
where she took great pride in her parlor with its sanded floor and
curtains of thin blue and white linen, which she had spun, woven, and
dyed herself. She was a direct descendant of John Marsh, who went in
May, 1715, alone on horseback, westward through the wilderness from
Hartford, Connecticut, to find a suitable site for a new settlement. He
chose what is now the town of Litchfield, Connecticut, situated on a
long, high ridge running north and south. It took him five days to make
the trip.
“Her entire life was spent in Litchfield and ... must have been
uneventful. She did not marry, and the laborious duties of a farming
household left little time for outside interest. [She was] modest and
retiring by nature. Her ... industry and devotion to her home leave
many memories fondly cherished by her kin.”
Owned by Polly Marsh’s niece, Mrs. Lewis Marsh.]
[Illustration: _Plate 50._
Detail of a second black lace veil, 34 inches long by 42 inches wide,
made by the same Miss Marsh. (See Plate 49.) Owned by her niece, Mrs.
Lewis Marsh.]
[Illustration: _Plate 51._
Black lace veil. Made by either Caroline or Elizabeth Hannah Canfield,
of Sharon, Connecticut, and New York City, about 1830. (See also Plate
52.) Forty inches wide by 38 inches long. Given by the daughter of
one and niece of the other, Mrs. Edward W. Seymour, to the Litchfield
Historical Society. (See also Frontispiece and Plates 32, 33, 35, 54,
55, and 76–81.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 52._
Detail of veil shown in Plate 51.]
[Illustration: _Plate 53._
Detail of black lace veil, 44 inches wide by 23 inches long. Made by
Louisa Lewis (Mrs. Henry Phelps), of Litchfield, Connecticut, about
1825. Given by her daughter, Miss Mary Phelps, to the Litchfield
Historical Society. (See also Plates 83 and 84.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 54._
Black veil. Made by Elizabeth Hannah Canfield about 1825. Owned by the
Litchfield Historical Society; given by the maker’s granddaughter, the
author. (See Plates 33, 35, 51, 52, and 55; also the description of
Plate 81.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 55._
Detail of veil shown in Plate 54.]
[Illustration: _Plate 56._
Lace pillow and bobbins with black trimming lace. Begun by Miss Nina
Hall Brisbane, of Charleston, South Carolina, born February 15, 1842,
died at Brooklyn, New York, February 13, 1921. She learned to make
pillow bobbin lace from nuns in a convent at St. Augustine about
1870. She gave her pillow to the Litchfield Historical Society while
temporarily living in Litchfield.]
[Illustration: _Plate 57._
Costume of 1825: gown, shawl, bonnet, and veil; showing how veils were
then worn. The veil was made by Mary Bacon (Mrs. Chauncey Whittlesey;
see Plate 71 and description). Lent by Mrs. Edward W. Preston, of
Roxbury, Connecticut. (From _Chronicles of a Pioneer School_, by E. N.
Vanderpoel.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 58._
Cap. Worked by Miss Elsie Philips, niece of the first mayor of Boston,
Massachusetts. Owned by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.]
[Illustration: _Plate 59._
Lace flounce on dress skirt. Made by Mrs. Charles Sever (Charlotte
Webster), of Boston, between 1830 and 1834. Given to the Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, by her daughter, Mrs. Walter H. Cowing.]
[Illustration: _Plate 60._
Veil. Worked by Delia I. Beals, of Pavilion, Genesee County, New York,
from her seventh to her tenth year, 1834–1837, and worn later by her at
her wedding. The design was drawn by her mother. The lace of the ground
is too fine to photograph well. Owned by the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston. (See also Plate 61.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 61._
Detail of veil shown in Plate 60.]
[Illustration: _Plate 62._
Embroidered kerchief. Worked by Rachel Leonard in 1752. The date and
her initials are worked on the ends. Owned by the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.]
[Illustration: _Plate 63._
Infant’s embroidered cap. Lent to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, by
Miss Katherine Egbert. Maker unknown. Made about 1820.]
[Illustration: _Plate 64._
Part of a man’s embroidered white linen waistcoat. Lent to the Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston, by Mr. William S. Eaton. Maker unknown. A
magnifying glass should be used with this plate for appreciation of the
delicacy of the stitches.]
[Illustration: _Plate 65._
Wedding-dress and marriage reception-dress of Catherine Van Houten. She
made the lace herself.
(_Plates 65–70 show laces and embroideries made by the same hand.
Catherine Van Houten, daughter of Garrabrant and Jane Van Houten, was
born June 8, 1806, and died March 9, 1874. She lived all her life at
113 Water Street, Paterson, New Jersey. She attended Miss DeLancey’s
private school in Orange, New Jersey, and it was there that she learned
to make lace. In June, 1830, she married Ralph Doremus._
_The collection represented by Plates 65–70 is owned by her
daughter, Mrs. William Nelson. It consists of the articles shown
and, in addition, four lady’s caps, two infant’s caps, four infant’s
dresses, one infant’s shirt, and a black lace veil about 36 by 42
inches—all the work of Mrs. Doremus; also slippers, gloves, and
openwork silk stockings for the wedding, black satin slippers, and a
housewife—“housewife” being the old name for a needlebook. See also
description of Plate 76._)]
[Illustration: _Plate 66._
Detail of skirt of wedding-dress shown in Plate 65.]
[Illustration: _Plate 67._
Details of lace on waist of wedding-dress shown in Plate 65. Designs:
crowns and spread eagles.]
[Illustration: _Plate 68._
Wedding veil. (See description of Plate 65.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 69._
Lady’s and infant’s caps. (See description of Plate 65.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 70._
The back of a collar or cape, about one-half size. Miss Van Houten saw
the model from which she embroidered this in the trousseau of a friend,
who had just brought it back from Paris. She said it was the only thing
for which she envied her friend, who replied, “Then make one like it
yourself”; and she did so, in the six weeks before her marriage. It has
long lappets in front. (See description of Plate 65.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 71._
Two pieces of white lace. Made by Mary Bacon, born February 9, 1787,
in Roxbury, Connecticut. She married, November 13, 1815, Chauncey
Whittlesey, also of Roxbury. She was a pupil at Miss Sarah Pierce’s
Female Academy in Litchfield, Connecticut, in her fifteenth year (see
Foreword). Besides painting in water-colors and embroidering pictures
in silk, she learned to make lace. (See also Plate 57.) These laces
and two views of Quebec, painted in water-colors, are owned by the
Litchfield Historical Society.]
[Illustration: _Plate 72._
Silk net wedding veil. Made and worn by Martha Harness when she married
Isaac Darst on the plantation of her family, Moorefield, Virginia,
June 17, 1817. Mulberry trees had been planted and silkworms raised
quite extensively at that time in the United States, a speculation
which failed grievously about 1830. However, this little bride made a
success in growing her silkworms, reeling the silk from the cocoons and
spinning it into a fine thread which she netted with a fine mesh into a
veil, tubular in form, which enveloped her from head to foot except her
face. When she wore it, it stretched to enclose her figure; when pulled
off it was about seven feet long and edged at the bottom with a soft,
narrow fringe of the silk.
Mrs. Harness died early, and her daughter, becoming mistress of the
plantation while very young, carried at her belt the inevitable bunch
of keys which every southern matron kept on her person in the days of
slavery. The yearly store of supplies was kept on the plantation under
lock and key. Some writers have assumed that the welfare of the slaves
was not considered by their masters; but this mistress of the house,
like many others, superintended the clothing of all the colored people
each season before she attended to her own wardrobe, although she liked
to dress well. Her husband was a good business man, and her ability
contributed greatly to his success in the many enterprises in which
he engaged. Two brothers brought her, from their trips on horseback
to Philadelphia, many gifts, including pieces of dainty silverware.
Her grandchildren remembered with delight her habit of keeping in her
corner cupboard glass jars filled with sticks of lemon, vanilla, and
peppermint candy as well as raisins, annis and caraway seed, and stick
cinnamon.
The veil kept well till two years ago, when it began to fall to pieces;
so that it has been difficult to reproduce it. It is owned by the
maker’s great-granddaughter, Mrs. G. Glen Gould.]
[Illustration: _Plate 73._
The upper or outer one of two collars made to be worn together; about
three-quarters size. In order that this upper piece might be even
more elaborately ornamented than the under one, the edging was cut
from the collar, both the edging and the collar were hemmed, and
the two were then fastened together with a dainty openwork stitch.
Embroidered by Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of Eldad Taylor and Thankful
Day, his wife. She married Andrew Perkins, of Norwich, Connecticut,
about 1745. This collar and portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Perkins done in
pastel are owned by the Litchfield Historical Society. Given by their
great-granddaughter, Mrs. W. W. Rockhill.]
[Illustration: _Plate 74._
_Figure 1_ (at top). Lace cap. Worked about 1810 by Sybil (Bradley)
Hotchkiss, of East Haven, Connecticut, grandmother of Samuel H. Street,
of Woodbridge, Connecticut.
_Figure 2._ Collar, embroidered, and lace. Made about 1820 by
Elizabeth, or Betsey, Peck, who married Camp Newton, of Woodbridge,
Connecticut, in 1798. She was aunt of Mrs. Samuel H. Street, of
Woodbridge, Connecticut, who owns both pieces. (See also Plate 46,
_Figure 1_.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 75._
Fichu for the head. About three-quarters size. Made by Sarah McCoon
Vail, of Troy, New York, in 1830, soon after her marriage to Judge
George Gould, Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeals of the State
of New York. He was the son of Judge James Gould, of Litchfield,
Connecticut, Assistant to Judge Tapping Reeve, who founded the first
law school in the United States, at Litchfield. Mrs. Gould learned to
make this lace at the school of Madame O’Kill in New York City. Given
to the Litchfield Historical Society by Mrs. Gould’s granddaughter,
Miss Natalie Lincoln.]
[Illustration: _Plate 76._
A page of borders. From the pattern book of Caroline Canfield, daughter
of Judge Judson Canfield and his wife, Mabel Ruggles, of Sharon,
Connecticut, and sister of Elizabeth Hannah Canfield. (See Plates
33, 35, 51, 52, 54, and 55; also the description of Plate 81.) She
married William Mackay, of Boston and New York, a direct descendant of
William Mackay of the group concerned in the “Boston teaparty.” The
designs were drawn in pencil and then traced over in ink. (See also
Frontispiece and Plates 51, 52, and 77–81.) Owned by the Litchfield
Historical Society. Patterns similar to those shown in Plates 76–78
were found also in the collection of Catherine Van Houten (Mrs. Ralph
Doremus); see Plates 65–70.]
[Illustration: _Plate 77._
Design for a cap. From the pattern book of Caroline Canfield. (See
description of Plate 76.) Owned by the Litchfield Historical Society.]
[Illustration: _Plate 78._
Copy of a design from Paris, whence came much of the inspiration
for early American work in lace. From the pattern book of Caroline
Canfield. (See description of Plate 76.) Owned by the Litchfield
Historical Society.
Text from image:
MARTIN AU PALAIS DE JUSTICE Nº 4. A PARIS.]
[Illustration: _Plate 79._
Ruffle. Embroidered by Caroline Canfield for her wedding petticoat. It
is 6¾ inches wide, 2½ yards long. (See description of Plate 76.) Owned
by the Litchfield Historical Society.]
[Illustration: _Plate 80._
Part of a design for a dress. Drawn by Caroline Canfield, and sent to
India by her brother-in-law, George Mackay (he was supercargo on a
sailing vessel that ran between the United States and India), to be
embroidered there on India mull. (See also Plate 81.) Owned by the
Litchfield Historical Society. (See description of Plate 76.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 81._
From one of two dresses worked in India on India mull. After designs
drawn by Caroline Canfield. (See description of Plate 80.) The dress
shown here was worn by Caroline Canfield’s sister, Mrs. Frederick
Augustus Tallmadge, at the inauguration ball of President Tyler, April
4, 1841. Later it was worn by Miss Frederica Pirrson when she married
Frederick W. Tepper. The muslin insertion at the bottom is a later
addition, of French design and make. Owned by the Litchfield Historical
Society. (See description of Plate 76.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 82._
White mull dress. Embroidered by Ruth Freeman Packard, daughter of the
Reverend Asa Packard and Nancy Quincy, of Marlboro, Massachusetts,
about 1818. Nancy Quincy was the daughter of Colonel Josiah Quincy
(1708–1784), of Braintree, Massachusetts. Ruth Freeman Packard married
the Reverend George Trask, of Framingham, Massachusetts. The embroidery
is 14 inches deep and the width of the skirt 3 yards. It contains
seventeen of the designs sometimes called palm leaves. The dress is now
in the possession of Mrs. Trask’s daughter, Mrs. Ruth Quincy Powell, of
Scranton, Pennsylvania.]
[Illustration: _Plate 83._
India mull dress skirt, 2 yards wide, embroidered, with lace stitches
introduced. Worked by Louisa Lewis about 1820, when she married Henry
Phelps. They lived on the north side of the square in Litchfield,
Connecticut. Owned by the Litchfield Historical Society; given by Mrs.
Phelps’s daughter, Miss Mary Phelps. (See also Plates 53 and 84.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 84._
A second skirt, similar to the preceding in work and design, on India
mull, 2 yards and 6 inches wide. Worked by the same hand about the
same date. Owned by the Litchfield Historical Society; given by Mrs.
Phelps’s daughter, Miss Mary Phelps. (See also Plates 53 and 83.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 85._
Handkerchief, worked in the center with a large design and with similar
designs on the four corners, with fine lace stitches introduced. Made
by Mrs. Mitchell (Eliza Brock) for her sister, Frances Brock, for her
wedding. Their home was on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts,
where Frances was married in 1833 to Thomas Dawes Eliot, a lawyer of
New Bedford, Massachusetts. Owned by her daughter, Miss Edith Eliot.]
[Illustration: _Plate 86._
Part of bed curtains. Made by Polly Cheney, of Litchfield, Connecticut,
in 1740. She raised, spun, and wove the flax into linen and embroidered
it with crewels of wool dyed by herself in various shades of blue;
presumably from her own patterns, as designs were rare at that time in
the United States. These strips are 21 inches wide and 40 inches long.
Owned by the Litchfield Historical Society.]
[Illustration: _Plate 87._
Waist of infant’s dress. Worked about 1839 by Miss Elizabeth W.
Davenport, daughter of John Alfred Davenport, for her niece, Elizabeth
Davenport Wheeler. It was made when the family lived in either New York
or Brooklyn, whence they moved to New Haven. Owned by the Litchfield
Historical Society; given by Elizabeth Davenport Wheeler’s niece, Miss
Emily Wheeler.]
[Illustration: _Plate 88._
Front of skirt of dress shown in Plate 87.]
[Illustration: _Plate 89._
Infant’s dress. Worked by Mary W. Peck (Mrs. Edward D. Mansfield),
probably about 1831. Owned by the Litchfield Historical Society. See
also Plates 30 and 31.]
[Illustration: _Plate 90._
Six infant’s caps. Made, embroidered, and worked with lace stitches by
Mary Ann Laidlaw, wife of Dr. Henry Buel, of Litchfield, Connecticut,
about 1860. Owned by her daughters, Mrs. Francis H. Blake and Miss
Katharine L. Buel.]
[Illustration: _Plate 91._
_Figure 1_ (at top). Knitted lace from a pillow case. A great deal
of this kind of lace has been made in the United States for trimming
underwear and bed linen. This specimen was made by Mrs. Wilson Tingley
White, born April 15, 1838. She married at nineteen and lived in
Cumberland, Rhode Island, until her husband’s death in 1918. This piece
of lace she made in 1909. It is owned by her daughter, Mrs. Charles
William Follett, of North Attleborough, Massachusetts, at whose home
Mrs. White died December 25, 1923.
_Figure 2._ Lace made on a pillow with bobbins by a California Indian
girl. Given to the Litchfield Historical Society by Miss Edith Beach.
_Figure 3._ Insertion from one of a pair of pillow-biers (the early
name of pillow-cases). Once owned by Sarah Chedsey, born 1670, daughter
of John Chedsey, deacon of First Congregational Church of New Haven,
Connecticut, 1675–1688. The pillow-cases are marked S. C. She probably
made both lace and pillow-cases, but there is no further proof than
that they bore her initials and were cherished and handed down
carefully through a series of Sarahs, as follows:
Sarah Chedsey, who married Samuel Alling;
Sarah Alling, who married David Punderson;
David Punderson, who married Thankful Todd;
Sarah Punderson, who married Zechariah Thompson;
Sarah Thompson, who married General John Hubbard
(See Plate 20, _Figure 2_);
Sarah Thompson, who was a niece of Sarah Hubbard;
Sarah Thompson, who was a niece of Sarah E. Thompson;
Esther H. Thompson, who gave this lace to the
Litchfield Historical Society.
]
[Illustration: _Plate 92._
Black lace scarf, 3 yards long. Worked by Pamela Parsons, born April
8, 1767, died July 5, 1813. She was the daughter of Zenas Parsons, of
Springfield, Massachusetts, and great-great-granddaughter of Joseph
Parsons, who came from England in Winthrop’s fleet, 1630, with Mr.
Pyncheon. (See also Plate 46, _Figure 2_.) Owned by Mrs. Charles B.
Curtis. (See descriptions of Plates 93–96.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 93._
Infant’s cap. Worked in 1815 by Isabella Woodbridge Sheldon, of
Hartford, after she became the wife of George Lecky Cornell, of Red
Hook, Long Island (where South Brooklyn now is), for her daughter
Sarah. Owned by her granddaughter, Isabel Douglas Curtis (Mrs. Charles
B. Curtis). Mrs. Cornell was a niece of Pamela Parsons. (See Plate 92.)]
[Illustration: _Plate 94._
Altar cloth of Greek design, 92 inches long. Worked by Isabel Douglas
Curtis—Mrs. Charles B. Curtis, granddaughter of Isabella Woodbridge
Sheldon (Mrs. George Lecky Cornell); see Plate 93—in 1911 for Christ
Church, Rye, Westchester County, New York. It has on the top the words:
“Holy, holy, holy,” etc. The center contains symbols, such as I H S,
the crown of thorns, etc. Owned by the church named.]
[Illustration: _Plate 95._
Detail of altar cloth shown in Plate 94.]
[Illustration: _Plate 96._
Sample from tape lace. Made for window-curtains by Isabel Douglas
Curtis (Mrs. Charles B. Curtis), of New York City, about 1895. Owned by
the Litchfield Historical Society.]
[Illustration: _Plate 97._
Tape lace, 6 inches wide, 2 yards long. Made by Rachel Tracy Noyes,
daughter of William Curtis Noyes and his first wife, Anne Tracy. She
married Charles Edward Whitehead, of New York City. The lace was made
about 1880. She died in 1900. Owned by the Litchfield Historical
Society.]
[Illustration: _Plate 98._
Tape lace and darned net. Made 1881–1885 by Miss Esther Thompson,
of Litchfield, Connecticut, when she was a teacher in Middletown,
Connecticut. Owned by Miss Thompson.]
[Illustration: _Plate 99._
Tape laces. Made by Mrs. Butterworth, a friend of Miss Esther Thompson.
Owned by Miss Thompson.]
[Illustration: _Plate 100._
Half-tone of photostat copy of photograph in the New York Public
Library, of a table cover, 42 inches square. Made by Mrs. Hannah
MacLaren Shepherd-Wolff. Three thousand hours were spent on this lace,
which was finished in 1910 when the maker was eighty years old.]
[Illustration: _Plate 101._