Chats on Household Curios Part 11

The contents of an old workbox are many and varied. Among the odds and ends it is no uncommon thing to find relics of lace-making, by which so many cottagers have been able to maintain themselves for generations.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 73.--SPINNING WHEEL.

(_In the Hull Museum._)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 74.--OLD LACE BOBBINS.

(_a_, _b_, _c_, _d_, _e_, and _f_, reading from left to right.)]

There is something very remarkable about the manufacture of pillow lace, in that it is carried on in the villages of Buckinghams.h.i.+re just as it was two or more centuries ago, and the pillow and the bobbins are almost identical in form and design--indeed, the patterns of the lace have changed little, for the workers cling tenaciously to the old designs, Flemish in their characteristics, just as they do to the old bobbins.

Some of these little spools or bobbins have been handed down from mother to daughter as heirlooms, and many of them carry a romantic story, if it were but known. Just as the Welsh lovespoons and the Sunderland gla.s.s rolling-pins were given as love tokens, many of these bobbins are the result of patient labour, their decoration having often been the work of days; ivory, bone, wood, and metal being cut and shaped, gilded and stained, in order to provide the favoured one with a bobbin unlike any other and quite distinctive in design. In the making of pillow lace, pins, cleverly placed so as to form the pattern, were inserted into the cus.h.i.+on, and the threads on a dozen or more bobbins deftly twisted in and out and tied round the pins. The gla.s.s beads, many of the older ones of odd shapes and colours, hand-made, made the first distinction, and their weight helped to keep the light turned wood bobbins in place. It was the bobbins which were ornamental, and some of the older ones--those made in the eighteenth century--are very decorative, and now much sought after by collectors. Those ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 74 have been selected from a large collection for their representative types: (A) is the oldest; the ornament is of pewter let into the wood, it has a very small spool; (B) is ivory, the incised parts stained green; (C) is bone, the incised pattern filled in with gold beaten into a thin plate; (D) is also of bone with a band of bra.s.s and coloured inlays; (E) walnut wood, turned in the deep grooves are six loose silver rings, some of the heads are of bra.s.s gilt; (F) the most modern type, such as may be seen in use in Buckinghams.h.i.+re to-day, the present revival of the hand-made lace industry being due to the efforts of the North Bucks Lace a.s.sociation.

Of such handwork Cowper wrote:--

"Yon cottager who weaves at her own door, Pillow and bobbins all her little store: Content, though mean, and cheerful, if not gay, Shuffering her threads about the livelong day."

The lace-maker, and the housewife who occupied her leisure moments in lace-making, left behind many collectable curios. The worker of samplers and those advanced in the higher arts of needlecraft had also their little work necessaries. Very clever indeed were the workers of silk-embroidered pictures, and the instruments they used were fine and delicate, different indeed from the coa.r.s.er needles of the knitter and the meshes of the netter. In later years the workbox became more substantial, and less attention was given to the exterior, for the interior fittings of the workbox became beautiful, and a wealth of art was shown in the carving of the ivory accessories, and the pearl tops of the thread and silk reels and winders and the curious little wax holders. There were cleverly contrived measuring tapes, and beautiful little baskets of ivory and wood, some filled with emery, others serving the purpose of receptacles for pins and needles. From these evolved the needlebooks and the more modern companions.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 75.--OLD PIN POPPETS AND ANCIENT PINS.]

In Fig. 77 are shown several beautiful oddments taken out of an old workbox; they are all made of ivory, carved and fretted in such delicate tracery that it is a wonder that they have survived for a century or more without injury. Ivory work holders, in which ladies rolled their needlework when they went out to tea, were often beautifully carved; they, too, are charming additions to ivory workbox fittings.

Cutlery.

The cutler has contributed to the curios of the workbox. The knives and scissors, bodkins, and stilettos from an old workbox look strangely out of date when compared with those bought in the shops to-day. The chief thing that is so noticeable to the critical observer is the cutting of the steel and the hand ornamentation of those days. Some of the embroidery scissors were engraved all over with fancy patterns, and there are some remarkably quaint b.u.t.ton-hole scissors, on which the owner's name or initials were often engraved.

Some time ago an old lady made a small collection of thimbles. It was not a very expensive hobby, but the variety she secured was truly remarkable. There were thimbles of bone, ivory, steel, bra.s.s, enamel, silver, and even gold. Some were chased and engraved, some stamped and punched. There were thimbles of huge size and others with open ends, the same that sailors use.

It is said that the thimble dates back to 1684, when one Nicholas Benschoten, of Amsterdam, sent one as a present to a lady friend with the dedicatory inscription: "To My frouw van Rensclear this little object which I have invented and executed as a protective covering for her industrious fingers." It is said the name in this country was originally "thumb-bell," so called because of the shape being of bell-like form. Of the thimbles of the wealthy it is recorded there are thimbles of onyx, mother-o'-pearl, and of gold, encrusted with rubies and diamonds--the seamstress has, however, to be content with useful if less costly "baubles."

Quaint Woodwork.

By way of contrast the outfit of the worker often includes wooden needles and occasionally utensils made of wood, but covered with evidences of love and tender regard for those who were destined to use them. The knitter seems to have been peculiarly fortunate, for knitting sticks and sheaths afforded the amateur carver ample opportunities of showing his skill; and, like the carved lovespoons, of which there is such a famous collection in the Cardiff Museum, the knitting sheaths and sticks seem to indicate that in a similar way the amorous swain gave vent to his feelings in the curious designs, mottoes, and names which he carved upon knitting sticks and kindred objects used by the lady of his choice. In the Victoria and Albert Museum there are some beautiful boxwood needle sticks; one example is cleverly carved with emblems of Faith, Hope, and Charity. Another beautiful needle stick in the same collection is mounted with silver. On some of the woodwork used for similar purposes there are cleverly designed pictures, and these were not always a.s.sociated with private use, for the clothworkers in many districts used quite fanciful tools, especially in the villages, where time was of small moment, and the long winter evenings could be occupied with cutting and carving the handles and framework of the tools which in everyday practice served such a useful and often wage-earning purpose.

In the Victoria and Albert Museum there is a remarkable cloth-measure made of walnut, bearing date 1745, three-sided, one being covered over with letters of the alphabet cut in deep relief, thus serving a useful purpose in the home or as an educational standard. On the second side there are cleverly designed pastoral and hunting scenes, and on the third the arms of the Swiss cantons. Other portions of the measure ill.u.s.trate the implements and tools used by clothworkers at that period.

Switzerland has long been famous for its wood carving, and many of the curios found in this country have come from the Swiss mountain villages.

No doubt some of our readers have come across the old pin poppets which boys and girls carried with them to the village school half a century or more ago. The girls filled them with pins and needles, bodkin and stiletto, and the boys with pencils and pens. In Fig. 75 two curious old pin boxes are ill.u.s.trated. The _pins_ shown on the same page are, however, of much older date; they are, in fact, merely thorns; these interesting and authentic relics of the "common objects of the home," or perhaps more correctly described, of dress, are to be seen in the National Collection of Wales at Cardiff, the measuring stick shown in the photograph giving their size. The pin poppet, as its name denotes, was, however, intended originally for the requirements of the early needleworker who at the dames' school won renown in those great achievements--the samplers of old. These, however, do not exhaust the wood-carving curios of the workbox, but they may serve to remind collectors of what they may hope to discover in their hunt for household curios.

The Needlewoman.

The curiosities much prized to-day, the work of the needlewoman, or those who plied the needle chiefly for purposes of amus.e.m.e.nt or to give pleasure to those on whom they bestowed the products of their skill, are met with in many distinct forms. This is not a work on needlework, or we might tell of the various st.i.tches which are indicative of certain periods. It is, however, admissible to mention some of the household curios, the product of such patient labour applied to the skilful manipulation of silks and threads and cottons and wools, of all colours and substances, embroidered or worked on canvas or other fabric.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 76.--THREE OLD WORKBOXES.

(_In the collection of Mr. Phillips, of Hitchin._)]

The mistresses of the old English homes were very industrious. They worked crewel bed hangings and cross-st.i.tch and tent-st.i.tch upholstery in the seventeenth century, and in still earlier times richly ornamented linens and other fabrics with flowers and scriptural subjects. Writing in reference to Queen Mary, the wife of William III, Sir Charles Sedley said:--

"When she rode in coach abroad She was always knotting thread."

And her example was followed by many in humbler circ.u.mstances. In later years women have wrought needlework and beadwork pictures, and have even threaded their needles with human hair when no silk could be found fine enough.

Of the permanent ornaments of the home--now valued curios--there are cases formerly used on a lady's toilet table, embroidered with floss silk and frequently dated. Some were made to hold devotional books, others were portable boxes, the covers of which were worked on white satin with coloured silks and beads, oftentimes scriptural scenes being depicted in silk; one very favourite scene in the seventeenth century was the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon.

Many beautifully embroidered trinket boxes record the patience with which they were worked, and were undoubtedly a labour of love. Among the smaller objects, gifts from friend to friend, were pincus.h.i.+ons, some of which bear dates in the seventeenth century. These were worked in coloured silks on canvas, the ornament often taking the form of a fruit or flower basket, birds and insects. The favourite material and colour for the back of such pincus.h.i.+ons was yellow satin. A rather pleasing variety consisted of bag and pincus.h.i.+on worked to match, the two being united by a cord of plaited silk. Of purses there were many varieties, chiefly made of coa.r.s.e canvas worked in cross and tent st.i.tches with coloured silks and silver threads, couched or laid over silver thread, and then st.i.tched to the canvas concealing it. There are also miniature pincus.h.i.+ons worked in silk like the old samplers and brocade pocket books, some of which were woven in France in the seventeenth century.

There are also holdalls and needle cases in embroidery and cross st.i.tch.

The favourite colours worked by English ladies in the eighteenth century were pink, orange, and light green. On these were often worked mottoes and rhyme. One will serve as a sample:--

"When Judah's daughters captive led Behold their mighty kings subdued."

Loyal mottoes were frequently worked, especially during the days when the Pretenders were carrying on their hopeless campaign. There is a subtle reminder of the desire to make known loyal feelings, intermixed with prudence in concealing them, in the quaint embroidered garter in the British Museum which is inscribed "G.o.d BLESS P.C."

To smokers were given embroidered tobacco pouches in green, pink, and silver; one charming old beadwork tobacco pouch in Taunton Castle is embroidered "LOVE ME FOR I AM THINE, 1631." There were necklaces and bracelets of needlework, and some of coloured gla.s.s beads, as well as the long watchguards worn round the neck, chiefly of the nineteenth century.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 77.--OLD WORKBOX FITTINGS.

(_In the Author's collection._)]

Old Samplers.

Old samplers may well be regarded as educational, belonging to the schoolroom as well as to the workbox. They were intended to teach needlework, and served as reminders of alphabets, sums, and mapping.

Many worked in silk on yellow linen in the eighteenth century were quite elaborate pieces of needlework. Those of the seventeenth century, chiefly of linen, were much cruder and simpler in design. During the latter half of the eighteenth century samplers were mostly worked on canvas or sampler cloth, a material which was used almost as long as samplers were in fas.h.i.+on. Different st.i.tches were employed; there was the early drawn and cut work, and then the silk embroidery showing the girl's acquirement of the darning st.i.tch.

Some early tapestry maps are numbered among the educational curios in which samplers are so prominent. The Yorks.h.i.+re Philosophical Society own two unique specimens of sixteenth-century tapestry, formerly in the possession of Horace Walpole. They measure about 16 ft. by 12 ft., the sections including Herefords.h.i.+re, Shrops.h.i.+re, Gloucesters.h.i.+re, Oxfords.h.i.+re, and a part of Berks.h.i.+re. These remarkable maps are vividly coloured and show excellent pictorial scenes indicating villages, parks, and country seats. Such maps are rare, but now and then really interesting examples of needlework mapping are met with.

Collectors keep an eye on preservation, but they are keen on dated specimens, and those with ornate and quaintly picturesque borders. The condition adds to the beauty, but not always to the value, for many of the older and less well-preserved samplers are now becoming scarce. They have been retained by those who have no interest in antiques because they bore the name of some fair ancestress who lived and worked on her sampler more than a century ago, leaving it behind as a memorial of her skill in the use of a needle for future generations to admire. How many ladies of the twentieth century are preparing permanent records of their skill in needlework for those who are to come to hand on to generations unborn? is a question some may like to ponder.

XI

THE LIBRARY

CHAPTER XI

THE LIBRARY

From cover to cover--Old sc.r.a.p books--Almanacs--The writing table.