C)0 



ness, was the stubble cut from the rye and oat fields after th& 

 grain had been harvested, or straw selected after the grain had 

 been carefully beaten out over a barrel. Cutting the straw while 

 the grain was in the milk, scalding and drying it in the sun, Avas 

 soon discovered to be a great improvement, both as regards the 

 cheapness of the straw and its whiteness and clearness, so essen- 

 tial to a handsome braid and a tasty bonnet. This method of 

 curing braiding-straw, is followed at the present time. Who 

 first cut and prepared it by this process, I have been unable to 

 ascertain. 



" Mr. Ezra Carpenter was the first stratv-merchant. He bought 

 the bonnets and took them to Boston on horseback in pan- 

 nier baskets of the old style, and exchanged them for dry goods. 

 Soon after this, Mrs. C. Metcalf, Capt. Sherman, Maj. Harts- 

 horn, Stephen Rhodes and others enlisted in the enterprise on a 

 limited scale, finding a market for their goods with larger manu- 

 facturers or dealers in Wrentliam, Franklin and Dedham, or tak- 

 ing; them to Boston or New York. 



" The braids first produced were in imitation of those of which 

 the imported bonnets were made, and the successful accomplish- 

 ment of the object taxed the ingenuity of the first American stravv'- 

 braider to the utmost, as she has informed us. In those times 

 there was comparatively little change in the style of bonnets, 

 and those who had become skilled in the manufacture were not 

 liable, as now, to find themselves /wrs da combat m the tournament 

 of trade by the production of some new form or style of goods. 



" The bonnets were made or shaped by the eye of the sewer and 

 the use of a measure, and not as now, by means of a shaping- 

 block. The only machinery used in the finishing process was a 

 flat or sad iron with a double handle. The art of bleaching was 

 limited to fumigation bv brimstone. 



" In 1820, Mr. Daniels Carpenter, Avho had previously been a 

 presser of bonnets, commenced business for himself, and the trade 

 began to develop itself into larger dimensions. He was soon fol- 

 lowed by Messrs. John Corey, the Sumner Brothers, Dr. Peck 

 and others, who were known as the principal manufacturers of 

 straw goods in Foxboro', doing in the aggregate a large business, 

 and finding a market for their goods in New York, Philadelphia 

 and Baltimore. 



" Previous to 1830 important improvements were made in the 

 methods of finishing, various kinds of machinery, operated by 

 water power, having been invented and used to much advantage. 

 iVbout the year 1880, a new impulse was given to the business 

 by the introduction of new styles of braid, called the ' diamond 

 plait,' ' snake skin,' &c., which were very fashionable. These 

 were very coarse braids — the coarser the more fashionable — and 



