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Show LACE MAKING IN IRELAND. Beautiful Haruliworkof Erin's Maids. LABOR THAT IS POORLY REWARDED. Seveu Months Making a Dainty Handkerchief, Hand-kerchief, In Limerick alone of all tho Irish cities has there ever teen anything like an ut-leuipt ut-leuipt at manufacture of luce, and hero Jaco making has been, during certain periods, extraordinarily successful. It was introduced in liWU by a man named Walker, alwmt twenty laoe makers having hav-ing been im ported from Nottingham. Uy ISOO nearly 'ti.OOO women and girls were employed in various branches of I the work as tamltourers, runners, darn- ers, menders, washers, linishers, muslin j embroiderers nnd luco open worker. The groundwork of all this lace is made by machinery Tho quality has always been superb, far excelling any partly machine made lace manufactured either in Lngland or iion the continent; but of late the industry has suffered from Swiss machine competition, anil workers were never permitted to earn wages exceeding from three to seven shillings per week. Tho Carrie k mac ross laco derives its name from tho introduction of both applique ap-plique and guipure laco making into tho parish of Carriekmacross, in Couuty Monaghan, as early us 18'JO It is a most interesting region under the shadow of tho Sliovo-Boagh mountains, moun-tains, and tho environments of the peasantry peas-antry to this day aro of tho most primitive primi-tive sort. Tho cabins, which seldom havo tuoro than ouo room from 8 to 14 feet square, and never more than 8 feet high, with earthen doors and straw thatched roofs. A holo in the roof end gives the smoko opjorliinity for escape, and whero clay and stick chimneys are u.dulgod in, an old llrkin, or a few clivers of freestone rock, form the ptet- luiemjuu ciiiuuicy pou i oiuloco, wiui occasionally a littlo buttermilk or sweet milk, constitute almost tho only articles uf food; and yet from out of lhe hands of tho daughters and mothers of this region, re-gion, and of County Armagh, into which Carrickmacross lace making bus extended, extend-ed, como daintier fabrics in applique than wero ever conceived in Brussels, and copies in guipure that aro marvellous marvel-lous improvements upon tho originals in Cretan Tho Innishmausaint laco comes from a 'egion still more interesting, not only from the loveliness of tho scenery about tho upper ami lower lakes of Lough Erne, that splendid northern rival of glorious Killarney in Kerry, but also from the singular beauty of tho maidens and mothers who dwell and labor amid these mountains, vales, glens and upon these transcendent shores. Innishmacsaint it-Belf it-Belf is a dainty island half a mile from Bhore in upper Lough Erne. A famous abbey was founded here In the Sixth century, by St. Ncnn or Nernid of tho royal blood of Ireland. The saint's bell, ornamented with gold and silver, is still preserveu nere as a sacral ana precious relic. Tho parish, partly in county Donegal Done-gal and partly in Fermanagh, derives its name from the island of ruins, and the entire peasantry of this wild and beauti-inl beauti-inl region, in manner and dress, etrik-larly etrik-larly remind ono of tho picturesque folk t he Tyrol. Nearly every family has a member who is a lace maker, and without organization, organ-ization, technical instruction, or any attention at-tention whatever to preserving or developing devel-oping artistic effort, these blueoyed, black haired, red lipped women produce marvels mar-vels in point lace as wonderful as were ew known in point d'Alencon. I found on worker who had been employed more than five months upon one handkerchief. hand-kerchief. She said two months moro would be required to complete it "What will you get for it?" 1 inquired. "Faith, an' I'm thhikin' n pound it'll bring. "And what will you do then!'" I asked again. 'Go to America, plase God!" was tho reply. And yet the rich Belfast laco dealera showed me handkerchiefs by no means as rich and delicate for which they ea-sily got $150 each. LABOR BETTEK PAID IN TI1K BOOTH. Their peasant sisters of the Bouth are moro fortunate in tho matter of training and just and generous supervision. The nuns of the Presentation convent at V ougha I have assiduously striven for fifty years to not only secure the best copies from lhe most famous lace makers mak-ers of southern Europe, hut havo insisted upon constant instruction. Dealing direct with the importing houses of America, they have lxen ablo to pay the best wages known in Ireland for women's labor. These lifty yoara of effort have also brought most magnificent artistic results. "Irish point," as the Youghal lace is called, is practically perfected into an original combination of old and modern mod-ern stitches, closely resembling, and in many instances far superior to, Bome of the rarest specimens of Malines; and it is doubtful if today there can be found rarer, more exquisitely and marvelous-ly marvelous-ly designed work than comes from hundreds hun-dreds of homes of tho sunny voles of Cork and Waterford. There Is also a black laco ip. Bilk, and t white lace in thread, both "pillow laces, " made by tho peasant women about the sleepy old town of Tallow, from instruction during the last half century by the nuns of St Joseph's convent con-vent From the most conservative estimates It would seem that 20.000 women in Ireland Ire-land are constantly employed in the various va-rious forms of lace making; 75,000 are at work in the linen spinning and weaving weav-ing mills; 25,000 are employed in employed em-ployed in embroidery alone, and from 75,000 to 100,000 in such pursuits as knitting, shirt making, hem stitching, finishing, laundering and boxing; or, in round numbers, 200.000 Irish women in hoineB and factoriesareendlesslystriving to hold their hovel homes and their beloved be-loved Ireland together, on wages which will not exceed an average of four shillings shil-lings per week! Cor. New York Commercial Com-mercial Advertiser. |