23 



Hearth Rug, Mrs. H. W. Chapin, Pittsfield, 1 



Hearth Rug, D. L. Wilcox, Sheffield, 



Hearth Rug, Miss Nellie Tripp, Sheffield, 



Hearth Rug. Miss Clara Hubbard, Pittsfield, 1 



Hearth Rug, Miss Mary L. Palmer, Stockbridge, 1 



Committee.— William I. Van Deusen, Mrs. J. B. Chadwick Mrs H 

 T. Cande. 



SECOND DIVISION. 



Whole number eu tries, 31. Afghan or Lap Robe, 8 ; White or Colored 

 Woolen Yarn, 2 ; Woolen Hose, 12 ; Woolen Mittens, 9. 



We found in this Division thirty-one entries, against twenty-six 

 last year, the number of entries under each head being larger, except 

 in woolen yarn, last year showing five specimens with only two this. 

 The women of the nineteenth century derive more good and plea- 

 sure from the manipulation of the keys of the piano-forte, draw- 

 ing from them, by their skill, delighting, inspiring strains, than in 

 sending the wheel 'round and 'round, and singing with its humming 

 accompaniment, which was the music that brought light-heartedness 

 to our grandmothers, and charmed their ears. And great pride they 

 took in drawing out the slender thread to its utmost fineness, and in 

 making it smooth and even ; and they tell us yet of the number of 

 " knots " they could run in a day, with evident satisfaction. The art 

 has been copied by a few, but in most homes, where there is an old- 

 time spinning wheel to-day, it is found in a cabinet containing a col- 

 lection of articles of antiquity or bric-a-brac ; carefully polished and 

 cared for, and standing as a link in the chain of the past, and re- 

 garded with some degree of reverence as well as curiosity. 



Also in the hand-knitting of hose we are led back, and find very 

 little of it done in our day. We recall, tenderly, from the home pic- 

 ture, the memory of the shining steel needles, their gentle click, and 

 the flying fingers, moving so rapidly that we could not see the thread 

 put around the needle, though watching closely ; and at the close of 

 the long winter evening beheld a stocking well on toward completion 

 as if accomplished by magic. 



And why should knitting and spinning be encouraged? The fly- 

 ing spindles of huge factories have taken the place of the single spin- 

 dle, and knitting machines that of the fou rneedles, and accomplish 

 in minutes, perhaps seconds, the work of hours in the old way. In 

 this age of rush and activity, when the wool can be taken from the 

 sheep's back and in three hours be transformed into a handsome coat, 

 it is too expensive, as a rule, to spin yarn and knit hose by hand. 

 Because of these improved facilities hose can be purchased at so low 

 a price, are so shapely and soft, and on the whole so pleasant to 

 wear, that they receive the preference, and the housewife has given 

 up the plan of supplying her family with her own handiwork and her 

 knitting is taken up only for a pastime, because she enjoys it. 



But that the work can be done by hand, in a machine-like man- 

 ner, could not be denied after an inspection of the articles exhibited ; 

 there were from four to six pairs in a bunch, made smooth, even and 

 strong, and thick as if to keep out the severest winter cold. Then, 

 too, there were silken hose, wrought in elaborate patterns, still others 



