UPHOLSTERY. 



787 



Convention met at Peoria, 111., October 21. 

 Mr. John D. W. Joy presided. Twenty-one 

 ecclesiastical jurisdictions were represented in 

 the sessions by eighty-one delegates. The 

 treasurer reported that his receipts for the 

 year had been $23,006, and his payments 

 $16,269. The amounts of the convention 

 funds were returned as follows : Murray fund, 

 $124,587; theological scholarship fund, $20,- 

 721; John G. Gunn ministerial relief fund, 

 $10,000. For the purpose of increasing the 

 missionary funds of the Church, the Convention 

 advised the parishes to consider a plan for tak- 

 ing regular collections, at least once every Sun- 

 day, of the proceeds of which, one half should 

 be retained for home use, and the other half 

 equally divided between the State and General 

 Conventions, and recommended the formation 

 of Young People's Missionary Associations in 

 the several parishes. The Woman's Centenary 

 Association returned receipts during the year 

 of $3,471, and disbursements of $3,466. Its 

 permanent fund amounted to $4,115. It sup- 

 ports a mission in Scotland. The Universalist 

 Historical Society returned a library of about 

 24,000 volumes, besides important manuscripts 

 and papers. 



UPHi)LSTERY. Tapestries. The ancient meth- 

 od of adorning mural interiors with silk and 

 silk-and-wool tapestries has as yet been little 

 revived in the United States. Examples, in- 

 deed, of the work done by weavers of such 

 tapestries in the several noted " periods " of 

 French and English household art exist in 

 American museums and in private families as 

 heir-looms, but their presence as wall-hangings 

 in dwellings is rare. But modern textile ar- 

 tists have devoutly studied the ingenious in- 

 terlacings of the silk and woolen threads that 

 framed these massive fabrics ; while their sub- 

 tile color-treatment and the majesty and beauty 

 of their heraldic and sacred designs have in- 

 spired the pattern-makers of all progressive 

 lands. Special interest in old tapestries was 

 aroused by the English, Spanish, French, and 

 Flemish exhibits at the Exposition of 1876, 

 many of the examples being of great antiquity. 

 Some still remain among the permanent ex- 

 hibits. Though not applied now, as in the fur- 

 nishings of the middle ages, tapestries, by their 

 great adaptability and varieties of texture, sur- 

 pass all other decorative cloths. Plushes, now 

 so popular, combine rather than compete with 

 them, and the two may be classed as the great 

 staples of the trade. In tapestry-manufacture, 

 even on power-looms, the identical weave and 

 technique of the old hand-workers are marvel- 

 onsly imitated. The " Gobelin stitch " is quite 

 creditably duplicated in American mills, and 

 the low price of our tapestries gives them wide 

 distribution. This is equally true in England, 

 whence come, too, superb specimens in this 

 branch of upholstery. France makes largely, 

 from the finest to the lowest grades ; and 

 German weavers are producing creditable tap- 

 estries. But in the profusion of rich material 



used, and in the disregard of time consumed 

 in weaving, the old makers have as yet been 

 neither eclipsed nor even reached. 



Ffrst American Upholstery. The first successful 

 weaving in this country of cloths for cover- 

 ings and draperies is credited to Philadelphia, 

 where, about 1866, Isaac Stead, an English- 

 man, astonished the upholstery-dealers by pro- 

 ducing, on hand-looms of primitive model, cer- 

 tain reps and " Terry " cloths, then much u 

 and made mainly in England for the American 

 trade. Stead's first product was readily taken 

 by wholesalers, and the near approach of his 

 cloths to standard foreign weavers deceived 

 even expert importers, and set the customs 

 officials of New York and Philadelphia on his 

 track as a smuggler. The venture of this pio- 

 neer, though finally disastrous financially, was 

 in every way creditable. The present firm of 

 George Brooks & Son, in Philadelphia, began 

 in upholstery in a small way, about the same 

 time with Stead, and, after many and great 

 discouragements, succeeded in making tapes- 

 tries fully suited to the American trade. From 

 Isaac Stead, the first weaver, came the present 

 house of Stead & Miller. Philadelphia con- 

 tinues the favorite habitation of the upholstery- 

 weaver, and every year adds to the city's yield 

 of tapestries and curtains. George W. Ennis 

 & Co. deserve special mention for first making 

 in the United States (about three years since) 

 fine, light-weight silk curtains on power-looms. 

 Laees. An effort was made recently to start 

 a lace-curtain factory in Pennsylvania, but was 

 abandoned. Our supplies of lace curtains come 

 now from Great Britain (Scotland, mainly), 

 France, Germany, and Switzerland. 



Materials. It was long imagined by house- 

 keepers and by manufacturers that only wool 

 or silk singly, or else the two combined, were 

 fit to enter into curtains and coverings; but 

 jute-fiber has of late years been largely substi- 

 tuted. Its wonderful luster, receptiveness to 

 colors, and pliancy, make it a positive rival to 

 silk, and the jute tapestries and velours that 

 reach us from abroad are freely used in high- 

 class upholstery. The States of Mississippi and 

 Louisiana are experimenting in jute-culture, 

 and the fiber shown from these is superior. 

 Our American wools are used in upholstery 

 cloths, and domestic mohair in small quanti- 

 ties is offered the plush-makers. For the silk 

 chenille curtains and piece-goods now largely 

 in use, and for tapestries, the silk stock used 

 comes from China and Japan, being sold in its 

 various stages as "raw " and "spun " silk, silk 

 " waste," and " noils." Domestic cotton- 

 yarns, as spun by improved machinery, enter 

 largely into tapestries, and are freely combined 

 with silk and wool in expensive goods. Tapes- 

 tries made wholly of cotton, or relieved by 

 threads of silk or wool, are popular, and are 

 remarkably cheap. The illumination of tapes- 

 tries and curtains with gold and silver tinsel- 

 yarns is now common, and the effects are 

 pleasing. The spinning of these tinsel-yarns, 



