ladies’ department. 
257 
Cairks’ SDqaarimmt. 
KNITTING. 
Exceedingly glad am I to find a gentleman like 
Solus, taking up, and vindicating so agreeably, the 
too often ridiculed custom of knitting—either for eco¬ 
nomy or amusement. It is true, stockings may be 
bought for less than the cost of the yam, but they 
cannot be compared to the knitted ones, either for 
comfort or durability; and as for amusement, who 
ever saw a group of genuine knitters, rattling their 
needles, and casting off* all kinds of yarn from their 
nimble lingers, and heard their pitying comments 
upon those who could not “ turn a heel,” or 
“ shape a stocking,” without acknowledging, at 
least tacitly, how pleasant it is to have something 
pretty or useful produced while they chatted so 
agreeably, or listened to some clever hook ; besides 
displaying a fair dimpled hand to advantage—an 
unacknowledged benefit. Being a knitter myself, 
I like his picture of evening fireside comfort ex¬ 
tremely, and in the name of the sisterhood, tender 
our thanks, and good wishes, that he may find a 
“ ladye love,” who will take pity on his forlorn 
condition ; consent to occupy the promised “ easy 
chairlisten with intelligent interest to his book 
(I hope he reads well), and knit scores of comfort¬ 
able woollen stockings, snowy white, or “ darkly, 
deeply, beautifully blue,” as may best suit his 
fancy, even should he he six feet high, and garter 
above the knee! And, lastly, that all this may 
come about before winter sets in, so that he may 
not pass another New Year’s day Solus. 
He “ hopes the ladies will not think him enthu¬ 
siastic;” which tells us plainly as any words can, 
that his tale is true, and he really is a solitary 
bachelor, who knows nothing at all about woman’s 
ways. Why, I can let him into a secret, and speak 
positively too—the pretty creatures love enthusi¬ 
asm, particularly when they are the objects of it, and 
therefore I hope they will think him enthusiastic. 
But if Solus be a smoker, a chewer, or a snuffer, 
I retract every good wish made in his behalf, and 
transfer them bodily to some honest man who has 
too much good taste and sense to destroy his own 
health and the comfort of his family, by such filthy 
practices. Some nameless bard has said, with more 
truth than poetry, I confess, that 
“ Tobacco is an Indian weed, 
An evil spirit sowed the seed, 
It wastes our money, spoils our clothes, 
And makes a dust-hole of the nose.” 
The German ladies certainl}* do carry their knit¬ 
ting work to the theatre and other places of public 
amusement, and by doing so, show to a certain 
degree the value of time; and I have even heard of 
their taking it to balls, where one would suppose 
the feet, and not the hands, were most in requisi¬ 
tion ; and that it is so, the following anecdote seems 
to prove, though I cannot vouch for the truth of the 
whole story. It is said that a young German lady 
who had no objection to displaying her pretty 
hands when she sat still, as much as she did her 
equally pretty feet, \vhen she danced, kept her 
partner waiting until she knit to “ the middle of her 
needle,” then, somewhat in a hurry, put her work 
into the bag, and whirled away in a waltz. But, 
unfortunately, in putting the stocking in, she pull* 
ed the ball of worsted out, and as she flew around, 
the yarn wrapped itself about her, increasing in 
thickness and length, until, when the dance was 
over, she was found to be transformed into a huge 
ball of blue yarn, with four steel needles sticking 
through it. Those who were present took it as a 
warning, and never took knitting work to balls 
again. 
I have acknowledged that I am a knitter upon 
principle, as well as fancy; and innumerable are 
the mitts, bags, cushions and children’s socks that 
have fallen from my needles ; but—I must confess 
the fact, that never in my life could I bring myself 
to travel the never-ending rounds of a man’s long 
stocking. I would rather undertake to read 
Webster’s Dictionary regularly through, from A to 
Z ; or count the grains in a sack of flax-seed. It 
always seemed like the task imposed by Maester 
Michel Scot, the famous wizard, upon the evil 
spirit whom he was bound to keep constantly em¬ 
ployed—he ordered him to make ropes out of sea- 
sand, and he is at it yet! 
But while Solus so pleasantly contrives to bribe 
the ladies to engage in this favored branch of home 
manufacture, can he, or any other sensible man, tell 
me why the men should never knit for themselves ? 
I know it does not necessarily make them effemi¬ 
nate ; for two of the roughest specimens of man¬ 
kind 1 ever saw knit all their own stockings and 
mittens, while resting at night, and listening to 
some one reading aloud. 
In the country, w r here the absence of all exciting 
amusements creates a blank in minds not deeply im¬ 
bued with a taste for home-bred joys ; or, where 
the education has been finished when the last 
school bill was paid; the timew r hich is not devoted 
to labor must hang heavily on the men and boys of 
a farmer’s famiily, particularly in the long winter 
evenings, when the cares and the pleasures of the 
day are over, and the family congregates around 
the blazing fire, after the evening meal, to while 
away the time until the hour for retiring. It is not 
easy to find employment or amusement in which all 
may participate ; w r ith women there is no difficulty 
—there is always plenty for them to do, in plying 
their needles, while listening to 'conversation, or 
reading—but the unfortunate men and boys—what 
are they to do? How few quiet occupations are 
allowed for their hands, while their heads are en¬ 
gaged by the subjects brought before them. Boys 
are laughed at and called effeminate, if they partake 
of their sister’s work; yet I have known some, as 
manly and intelligent fellows as ever guided a 
plow, or delivered an agricultural address, who 
-were not ashamed to employ an hour occasionally, 
in knitting stockings, weaving fishing nets, and 
wicker baskets, as a pleasant change from drawing 
and carrying in wood. 
We are accustomed to look down upon men -who 
sew, or knit, and they would be worthy of contempt 
if they could do nothing else ; but until some good 
reason can be given for preventing them from 
doing either, rather than see them sit still, and fix 
habits of idleness, I would encourage them to do 
any kind of work that could he turned to use or 
ornament. What sight can be more melancholy 
