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" So far as is known, the business [of straw braiding] commen- 

 ced in very early times, in Tuscany, or in some one of the states 

 of Italy. There it was brought to great perfection many years 

 since, and hats, bonnets and flats made from it were exported to 

 England and other parts of Europe. That peculiar kind, known 

 as the Leghorn flats and braids, attained unrivalled excellence. 

 This braid is made from a small straw, known now as the Tuscan 

 straw hat wheat, and is put together in a mode that has not been 

 successfully imitated, until recently, by other nations. 



Bonnets and hats of straw were at first imported into England, 

 ready for the milliner ; afterwards the braid was imported before 

 it was made up, and there made into bonnets and hats. From 

 England they came to the English colonies in this country. The 

 manufacture of straw braid, in England, from native straw, com- 

 menced within the last one hundred years. The straw used being 

 coarser than that used in Italy, led to the subdivision of it into 

 splints or strands. This was patented in England, and known as 

 the Dunstable Patent hats and bonnets. 



When straw bonnets and hats were first imported into this coun- 

 try, I have not been able to ascertain. It was the policy of the 

 English government to discourage manufactures of all kinds in all 

 her colonies. And Avhen the independence of the United States was 

 established, little progress had been made in any. The habit of 

 importing what was Avanted, had almost paralyzed the inventive 

 faculty. And ladies, who sported English Dunstables at first, be- 

 cause they were not permitted to manufacture them, imported 

 them afterwards because they doubted their power to do so. 



In the city of Providence, in 1798, Col. John Whipple kept a 

 store at the foot of Constitution Hill, at what are now Nos. 284 

 and 2-36 North Main Street. It was a store chiefly for the sale of 

 dry goods. Mrs. Naomi Whipple, the worthy help-mate of her 

 husband, assisted in tending this store. She was a lady of decided 

 taste in matters of female dress, and many articles were wrought 

 up by her, into hats, caps and bonnets. Among the assortment 

 of essentials and fineries in this store, were Dunstable straw bon- 

 nets. These were trimmed to suit purchasers, by Mrs. Whipple. 



In 1798, Mr. Joel Metcalf, with his fomily, resided in what are 

 now Nos. 64 and GQ Benefit Street. They had removed to Prov- 

 idence a few years before, from Attleboro'. Among the daugh- 

 ters was one named Betsey, born March 29, 178G, now the wife 

 of Mr. Obed Baker of West Dedham, Mass. The imported Dun- 

 stable bonnets, at Mr. Whipple's, excited the admiration of all the 

 young ladies in the town. Miss Betsey, among others, at the age 

 of twelve years, was an enthusiastic admirer of them. They 

 caught her eye every time she passed from her house to her uncle's 

 house, or to lier father's place of business, and it is to be feared 

 that she forgot her catechism ami the tenth commandment, when 



