Irish Lace and Its Makers

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 17, 27 April 1907, Page 49

Irish Lace and Its Makers

THAT necessity is the mother of invention is a saying old as the everlasting hills, and its truth is revealed yet again in the his-

tory of crochet lace, the beautiful point d’lrlande, which is so immensely fashionable just now, and which has been all the rage both in Paris and London for the past two or three years. The birth and growth of the industry form an interesting story, though it is hardly probable that many of the rich and beautiful women who proudly array themselves in flounces and robes of the lovely work, ever give a thought to its origin. To go back to the beginning, the making of crochet lace was- started in the great famine year of 1847, when the almost total failure of the potato crop brought the greater part of the Irish peasantry face to face with starvation and ruin.

A philanthropically-dlsposed lady, a Mrs Roberts, who resided at Thornton, Co. Kildare, then hit upon the brilliant idea of teaching the girls in the neighbourhood to crochet lace, and so to earn a few shillings wherewith to keep the wolf from the door. She obtained specimens of old guipure and point de Venise lace, and herself taught some half-dozen girls to copy the patterns in crochet. In six months they became quite expert at the work, and each girl was then made to instruct three others in the industry, thus forming a little band of thoroughly competent teachers, who were sent into all parts of Ireland to impart the knowledge of the industry which was to bring hope and salvation to many a starving family. In the province of Ulster, amongst the beautiful heather-clad hills of Co. Monaghan, lies the little market town of Clones, and thither, at the instigation of the then rector’s wife, Mrs Hand, went one of the instructresses. That was the commencement of the now flourishing industry which is carried on in the wild moorlands of beautiful Tyrone and Monaghan, for Mrs Hand, a clever, far-seeing woman, with a thoroughly business-like mind, developed the scheme for helping the peasants to earn something approaching to a decent livelihood by their own individual efforts. Of course, progress at first was very slow, and it was difficult to organise the workers and evolve a method of

sale to the agents, who now visit each village periodically, buying up lace at standard prices. The price, too, at first, was very low, but has risen astonishingly of late years, the sum of one pound now purchasing work that formerly could be obtained for less than a quarter of that amount. The immense demand for lace during the last few years has indeed proved a god-send to these poverty-stricken country people of the Emerald Isle, and from the lonely cabins, surrounded by moors and peat bogs, come many of those exquisite collars and flounces which adorn the gowns of even Rovalty itself.

But from Clones to London is a far cry. and from Biddy in her short skirt and apron, seated on a three-legged stool, either at her cottage door, or in front of a blazing peat fire, to the ultimate w y ear-

cr of the beautiful fabric that she manufactures so deftly, is even further. A school for this valuable industry has now been established at Clones, and is subsidised by the Government, and here the pupils meet three days a week and work on an average three hours a day, the time being fixed in connection with the immense distances that so many of them are obliged to traverse. It is estimated that a lace-maker can earn with ease one pound per week, which is comparative riches to the simple peasant folk, and all the more acceptable, inasmuch as the work can be done at their own homes.

Some earn considerably more than this amount, witness Mrs Martin, the wife of the blacksmith at Cooneen. who is a celebrated lace-maker, and who manufactured only a short time ago a beautiful collar for Queen Alexandra for which she received the sum of £5 5/. The accompanying photograph shows her in front of her cottage, whilst another one gives a reproduction of a beautiful lace collar she recently designed and made, the border being a most exquisite copy of a fern which flourishes in great profusion in the ditches all round Clones and Cooneen. During the recent Court mourning a fresh spurt was given to the industry by the introduction of sets of collars and cuffs manufactured in black silk, for which Mrs Martin received about £ 1 13/ the set.

Clones is now the centre of the chief lace-making district of Ireland, and in almost every cabin for miles around the women, girls, and even young children crochet in spare moments. The mother of a numerous brood, for instance, will find time to do as she says, “a wheen o’ spots,” the said spots being bought by the agents at 2d apiece, and afterwards put together by more skilful workers in the form of collars, revers, and even blouses. Then, again, the old granny in the chimney corner will tell you, “Me sight’s failin’ terrible, daughter dear, but shure its meself can still do the wee edge. It’s only fourpenee the yard, dear, but it keeps me in tay, glory be to Goodness!”

Done in the intervals of potato-wash-ing and pig-feeding, by a ilass of women to whom cleanliness is a thing certainly many degrees removed from godliness, the lace when made is anything but white, and often leaves the hands of the workers in a condition hardly short of filthy. It is, however, most carefully cleaned and exposed on the “greens.” when the splendid Irish sun and air quickly bleaches' it to the beautiful ivory tint that is so much admired and sought after. Then comes the time when it is offered for sale in the window or show-room of a fashionable shop to be admired and coveted by hundreds, arriving at last in the adornment of perhaps some well-known peeress or fashionable beauty. Thus, from the peasant to the peeress the lace is guided by the kindly hands of philanthropy, which, in the Irish bee industry is surely seen in its practical and, therefore, necessarily highest form, the industry being entirely self-support-ing. a state of things which should be the aim of every charitable enterprise.