THE FIRST LACE MACHINE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 178, 23 April 1908, Page 3

THE FIRST LACE MACHINE.

One of the most striking objects; at .the Exhibition of British 'and- Irish Lace,;-Horti- ( cultural Hall, Westminster, was the original model of the first bobbin net . lace machine, cvor constructed. This model was made.in 1809 by 'John'Heatbcote, one. of the greatest of. English inventor's. : / : . - For . some years, past this model, a. most quaint and . curious piece of mechanism, has been a valued treasure at the' Castle Nottingham. •. As. iron and steel the machine' would not bring a shilling, but. as an historical .relic it is so highly prized that it has been-secured, for the exhibition only on condition' ihat ,:a';_custodmn 'shall' attend' and guard'it' night and .day," and tliat, it will be 1 heavily' insured.''' \ '•'X.,.' .1, Another fr'ame Vill, contain the ,jnos.t quisite'specimens 1 of lace produced/, in what lias been termed Nottingham's . " Golden, Age," embracing -the period .from . 1870 ito 1885.' Mr. J. T. Spalding, the. Mayor: of. Nottingham,, has also kindly consented to, ; oxhibit upwards .of twenty-five frames (Containing his; private-- collection.' This collection,'which is' said to be the finest in . the kingdom, embraces tho choicest specimens of nearly every type and style of both ; reali and machine-made, lace, and is -the' result .of. many years of 'discriminating selection. ' > THE DREAD OF DISASTER. Not half the 'horrors .that women suppose] are going to haption to them ever do happen' (says an exchange). There are mon who, worry themselves .about : the future; but ntf man can conjure up such an extraordinary; accumulation catastrophes, as' can the, ordinary: wife; when her husband ,< is late for dinner; With no reason .whatever: she will, see him 'run over by a- train; knocked down "by a runaway horse ; then she sees him being carried lifeless to . a . hospital, 'i herself •. in, widow's weeds, the funeral,, and :the breaking up-of'the little home. , Or,, if' it ;,is not' her. husband who is the' hero of her morbid visions, it is her baby,. She cannot 'go'to a Uioatre without: imagining that the house is. being burnt dowri while she is away, that burglars' have broken in, or'that the nurse , has gone to sleep and let the baby fall out of its cot on its head. Now, all, these thrills of : alarm arc quite unnecessary. ■ The world is-not such a sad old place after all, and we cannot keep trouble' away by worrying about it.' ' And if trouble;does come it will be a much greater satisfaction to ' remember that no have been, cheerful than that we :have been' living in morbid anticipation of it. • . ''GETTING ON" WITH PEOPLE. Real narrowness is.pperhap s the : greatest bar to "getting' on with people," for it is ill itself, so unattractive and go difficult'..to' rid "oneself of. . \. ■' : Haying once by a sunny, genial disposition —natural ' or acquired, as it can. tho always indispensable. savoir . fgire, made a circle, of friends,. the next thing is'; to keep them. '■ _ .. '.. Bui; it .is extremely,/difficult live ,long at'high' pressure,; and.many an intimacy lias faded away, if .not died a sudden death, from being overdone in the. beginning. ' .-■• Discretion , and . honesty are .other- necessary virtues; for _onco. our friends discover we, have "talked about" them with, other; friends—and when do they fail to hear, of it?—they would not be human if tljey remained our friends. Again, we should not . be too ' exacting; Human nature being what it is, the, mere fact that we know our particular friend expects things froni us leads before very., long to our objecting to 'doing . those precise things. Wo should never lay a heavy band on friendship any more than on love. . DOCS AS PETS. In most cases too much dog-petting is injurious for grown-ups,'and. particularly so for children... Families who live in the country hayo possibilities of avoiding tho evil, for the dogs sleep in barns or outhouses. But for city dwellers a dog is liable: to bring .all.-kinds of disease germs into tho house, and children aro especially open to infection. There are hundreds of. diseases which the P3t animal can commilnicatc to tha human being; No one, can deny a child .the pleasure of haying a pet, but the dog can and should be trained never to lick oven tho hands of a person about it. At the first, sign of sickness on the part a house-dog, tho animal should be sequestered and the veterinary called in. Children should never bo allowed'to touch'or even-go near a sick'dog:' CHILDREN'S FOOD. ". Fat; is^essential to the proper growth of the tissues of "the nerves'and brain, and is peculiarly important to. children, as tho bjain enlarges rapidly during childhood. Next to butter ana cream, bacon is. one of the most palatable forms in. which, it can be given. It should not be ovor-cookcd, as then too much of the fat is fried out Sometimes bread soaked in bacon-fat will caten'-with rolisL :