February, 1910 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



53 



books and magazines? Yet 

 I have sometimes wondered 

 if all this home industry is 

 quite right. 



The women I know, 

 and the women I have 

 seen, have little time for 

 work of this description 

 or for concentrated ef- 

 fort apart from the daily 

 routine of ordinary house- 

 hold effort. 



Far be it from me to 

 decry the sacredness of 

 that effort, for it is 

 most righteous and neces- 

 sary. 



But I do not believe that 

 the average woman — I 

 mean the woman of aver- 

 age abiUty who has the 

 average duties of every wo- 

 man to perform — can find 

 much time for this sort of 

 work. Some do, undoubt- 

 edlv, and all praise is due 

 them for what they accom- 

 plish. 



Yet many women do tind 

 time for this work, and pro- 

 duce beautiful results. 



It is fascinating work, 

 too, and very absorbing. 



The story is told — and 

 I believe it to be authen- 

 tic — of a woman rug 

 maker who had exhausted 

 the supply of black she 

 had on hand for a certain 

 pattern. 



The work was nearly 

 finished, but everything 

 had been brought to a 

 standstill. 



"Where are your bloom- 

 ers?" inquired an interested 

 neighbor. They were pro- 

 duced with some protest, 

 but they were finally re- 

 duced to rags and put into 

 the pattern. Even this sac- 

 rifice was incomplete, and 

 the work was again stopped. 

 "What is the matter with 

 your skirt?" queried the 



An old-time loom ready for weaving 



Home-made rag rugs 



The oldest warping bar in Connecticut; the lower still in use 



resourceful neighbor ; and 

 that, too, went into the rug. 

 Contributions of this sort 

 are not always needed, but 

 the incident surely shows 

 the extraordinary interest 

 one may develop in this 

 work. 



And meanwhile the fortu- 

 nate possessor of these mod- 

 ern home-made rugs has 

 something to be envied 

 for. 



They are good rugs, 

 most of them; beautiful 

 rugs, too, rugs to be 

 prized and enjoyed. 



They are the kind of 

 rugs we are glad to have. 



If there be women who 

 have the time for this 

 work, so much the better 

 for us. 



They have an agreeable 

 occupation of quite ab- 

 sorbing interest, and we 

 have the beautiful results 

 of their labor. 



It is impossible to im- 

 agine a more desirable re- 

 sultant. 



The modern rag rug, 

 woven at home, and repro- 

 ducing either the old de- 

 sign or the old spirit, has, 

 then, a definite place in the 

 household of to-day. Its 

 real place is with old-time 

 furniture and in old-time 

 rooms; but as an agreeable 

 and handsome floor cover- 

 ing it has a place of its own 

 that nothing else can take. 



An interesting aspect of 

 the old revival is the fresh- 

 ening of people's thoughts 

 as to floor coverings. It is 

 something to know that 

 any sort of a rug or carpet 

 will not do for every place, 

 and it is a useful thing 

 that people should ponder 

 on such matters and con- 

 sider the relationship of 

 the floor. 



