THE MODERN IRISH LACE INDUSTRY. 431 



obtained prizes at the Royal Dublin Society's exhibition ; it gives grants to 

 enable iace mistresses and workers to obtain technical knowledge m lace- 

 making, drawing, and design ; and it makes purchases from the designs 

 exhibited at Ball's Bridge, for the purpose of giving those designs to the 

 lace makers. Thanks to this fund, there is thus a regular system estab- 

 lished by which it seems to me that lace centres have facilities for improve- 

 ment which they never before possessed. Any lace centre may write to the 

 Secretary of the Branchardiere Fund (Irish Industries Association, Dublin), 

 for a design for some particular lace. Aid will be given towards the 

 expense of making a trial piece from that design. The Royal Dublin 

 Society affords the means of placing that lace before the public, and gives a 

 reward to the lace centre if the lace should prove its superiority. And, 

 lastly, the workers who make the piece of lace receive rewards. There is 

 thus a continuity of action, which, if properly availed of, must, I think, con- 

 tribute largely to success. 



Having said so much, there are, it seems to me, two questions which we 

 may fairly ask : firstly, is the revival of Irish lace-making of such a nature 

 as to lead to permanent results ? secondly, is it worth while endeavouring to 

 compete with machine-made lace ? In answer to the first, I am of opinion 

 that much good has resulted from the revival ; the character of the lace has 

 been distinctly and admittedly improved. One need only look carefully at 

 the hand-made lace exposed in the shop windows and at the Horse Show at 

 Ball's Bridge in August of each year in order to see this, but, as to the per- 

 manency of the movement, I confess to some apprehension. Owing to the 

 peculiar circumstances of the Convent classes in which lace is chiefly made, 

 and their isolation from the centres of industry, there is always a danger of 

 their falling behind in the struggle for perfection. I do not think their 

 efforts, of late, have been marked by the same persistency as in former 

 years. They are easily discouraged, and require constant incitement to 

 fresh enterprise. The supervision of the needle-working in the Convent 

 classes is no doubt carried out by the nuns who have charge of the work- 

 rooms, and, to a certain extent, by the lace mistresses in the districts where 

 laces are made in the worker's homes ; but I am not referring to this, which 

 is the purely technical part of lace-making. I refer rather to the supervision 

 which makes itself acquainted with the demands of the market, which takes 

 care thai none but the best patterns shall be used, and that these shall be 

 constantly changed, that the lace made shall be even in quality, and of the 

 best materials, that all bad work shall be rejected, and that the requirements 

 of fashion shall be attended to. This is the kind of intelligent supervision to 

 which I refer ; and one which, if it succeeded in gaining the confidence of 

 the various lace centres throughout Ireland, would, I believe, be productive 

 of great results. 



In answer to the second question, I am of opinion that machine-made 

 lace will satisfy the wants of the many ; but there will always be a certain 

 number of people who will appreciate and demand the hand-made article. 

 I think that the existing lace centres are quite adequate to supply the 

 present demand for hand-made lace. Of course no one can say what the 

 dictates of fashion may require in the future. But the hand-made article 

 may never expect to keep its place in the market, unless it can prove its 

 superiority to the machine-made work. The machine has no soul ; here is 

 where the advantage of the woiker comes in ; the worker can put thought 

 and intelligence into every form if she feels a perfect interest in what she is 



