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gazing at them. This may be deemed not unpardonable in a 

 young lady of her age, who might suppose that iior personal ap- 

 pearance would be improved by such a bonnet, and more especial- 

 ly, as it led her to take steps to procure one without taxing her 

 parents for the purchase. She never saw any straw braid, and 

 could obtain none. But being determined to have a Dunstable 

 bonnet, she commenced experimenting with some oat straw that 

 her father harvested that year. The following letter, from her to 

 her late sister-in-law, Mrs. Jesse jNIetcalf, gives a general outline 

 of her first attempt and her ultimate success. 



West Dedham, Feb. 11, 1858. 



In compliance with your request, I will write an account of my 

 learning to braid straw. 



At the age of twelve I commenced braiding. My father, Joel 

 Metcalf, brought home some oat straw, which he had just mowed, 

 in June 1798. I cut the straw, and smoothed it with my scissors, 

 and split it with my thumb nail. I had seen an imported bonnet, 

 but never saw a piece of braid, and could not tell the number of 

 straws. I commenced the common braid Avith six straws, and 

 smoothed it with a junk bottle, and made part of a bonnet, but 

 found that it did not look like the imported ones. I added another 

 straw, and then it was right. An aunt, who resided in the family, 

 encouraged me, Avhile most of my friends said I should never learn. 

 She would sit and hold the braid, while I braided many yards, 

 thus keeping it straight and in place. 



We could not make it white by exposing it to the sun, and 

 knowing that brimstone would whiten other things, she put some 

 in a pan, with some coals of fire, and set it out in the garden ; 

 then standing to the windward, she held the braid in the smoke, 

 and thus bleached it. 



I then braided all sorts of trimming, but it was difficult to as- 

 certain the number of strands. The first bonnet I made was of 

 seven braid, with bobbin put in, like open Avork, and lined with 

 pink satin. This was very much admired, and hundreds, I should 

 think, came to see it. 



Soon after, I visited Dedham, and learned the ladies here, and 

 made bonnets for several of them. There has been a story re- 

 ported, that I braided enough in the stage to defray my expenses. 

 I did braid several yards, but not enough to pay my fare, 



After my return to Providence, I learned Sally Hichmond, a 

 near neighbor, to braid all kinds. She went on a visit to Wren- 

 tham, the next spring I think, and learned them there. 



It has been published that they first be;j;an to braid in Wren- 

 tham, but it is a mistake. Mrs. John Whipple, after she was 

 aged, told some one that she thought it was Hannah Metcalf, who 

 first braided ; but this was a mistake, for she never braided. I 



