WHEN PENELOPE SPUN AND DREAMED

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3056, 17 April 1917, Page 3

WHEN PENELOPE SPUN AND DREAMED

"(Continued from-Page 2)

THE HANDICRAFTS OF AGES ■ Since an effort is being made to introduce the ancient industry of spinning into New Zealand it may be of some interest to women to read of what has been done in this direction, and in others closely allied with it,, in England. In a little _ pamphlet which has reached this country is given an, outline of the way in which this revival. has : taken .place, and what its \ founders at accomplishing. • We are told, in this, little hook, that at Bowness-on-Windermere is to be found a cottage built on old Westmoreland linos/ with deep window-seats and pannelltid walls, casement curtains, and round chimneys, in. which is cultivated "■an art that in this age of commercial- . ism and lmrry was in danger of dying out of existence. This cottage is known as "The Spinnery," and it exists for the purpose of endeavouring to bring back their handicrafts into the .' homes of the '.people,- and to teach them • (that the simple pleasure found in them should replace.to some extent the artificial atmosphere that has too 'long i hidden realities. The Spinnerj; gives • employment to : women and , girls ; in . their'spare time, on tlio understanding that it, is spare-time work only, and is not to ,inteVfere : with their allotted work in life. They may add to their incomes inthis. way . by. filling in their spare moments, but are riot permitted ' , to make a. living by it. These women and girls are-taught free .of cost, and wheels are lent free to the spinsters ; they are paid at once for the work ... they ,do, and have no further Tesponsibility aboiit' their sale. In addition to :these .workers there is ' a "band of permanent workers;who are kept employed all .the year round at

"The Spinnery"—the old Spinnery as it is now called. ' The men work fifty hours weekly; the women 41}: and these latter have a fortnight's holiday given in the year, the sis "bank" holidays and each Saturdays afternoon. The work" consists chiefly of spinning, weaving, embroidering, designing, tooling silver, and gardening; whilst it is intended that rug-weaving shall soon be a definite branch. Almost 'every kind of fabrio that it is possible to make is being woven on the looms, all of.-which are. in the weaving sheds of the "Old Spinnery"; and the raw materials used-include flax, cotton, silk, wool, nettle-fibre, gold, silver, and aluminium.

"The Spinnery" is the first silk factory to bo established in the Lake district, and the silks are established at the exhibitions of the silk manufacturers of Great Britain and Ireland, to whoso assooiatioa it belongs. Yet another branch of its work is the designing of textiles and embroideries; and in the which is such an ira- ( portant part of its scheme of things,' colour effects for the woven stuffs and embroideries are grown and thought out; the chief characteristics of its fabrics being that they are an expression of Nature; and that most pieces have a meaning and history of their own. It was just that chance speech of an old spinster that brought back' the wheels to SVestmoreland, or rather saved'the spinning tradition from a gap that might never have been bridged. "When t'oiild wheels died out t'gude times went too; m'happen, they'd coom back if t'wheels did"; and Mr. Fleming, to whom this homely speech was made, determined the good times should come back if the wheels could bring them back. It was at Ellterwater, "in.the early 80's,, that he-started his little spinning-home with Ruskin's help. Through their efforts others begun to devote time and enthusiasm to the cause, and one by one throughout' the land ancient, industries traditional to the place have been revived. Mr. Fleming was himself taught to spin by <an ancient spinster, and over a spinning lesson little , spinning-house the work- began which has resulted in "The Spumery."_ Antiquities connected with spinning, ■weaving, embroidery, and other'handicrafts have been, gathered together at "The Spinnery," and amongst them is

a unique collection- of distaffs dating from the Middle Ages, and brought from.many countries; also a small but very precious collection of spindlewhorls,' including one from Neolithic times. spindle-whorl, a particularly interesting one, is of glass, decorated with concentric circles, which was found in a rubbish heap at Alexandria in 1851. It is work of the 18th Dynasty that is to say, it would be in use four or five hundred years earlier than those centuries in which lonian minstrels were wandering on the opposite shores singing of and her famous web,, and other incidents which have come down to us in the Odvssey. It is a fascinating history that is associated' with spinning, and even now perhaps there are to be fresh chapters added associated with the greatest wai in history.