Part 2

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.