ANECDOTE.
Catherine Shaw, daughter of John Shaw, of Bargarron, having acquired a remarkable degree of dexterity in spinning fine flax, conceived the idea of manufacturing it into thread. Her first attempts were necessarily on a small scale; she executed every part herself, and bleached her materials on a large slate, placed in a window. Succeeding, in her first essays, she engaged her family in the process, and Lady Blentyre carried a parcel of the thread to Bath, where she advantageously disposed of it to the lace manufacturers there. This was the first thread that crossed the Tweed. Subsequently a connection of the family went to Holland, and brought from thence the secret of the twisting and twining machines in use there, then carefully kept from public observation; also the art of numbering the threads, and packing them for distant sale. The young women of the neighbourhood engaged in it also, and it became an object of profit and interest to the place. What, it will be asked, became of the ingenious young woman who turned her talents to so great private advantage, and eventually to such public utility.[6] Surely she lived honoured, and died beloved. No! she was one of the last victims to the imputed crime of witchcraft in the south of Scotland! Amongst many others, she was accused of having evil agency with spirits, and is described, in the records of those unhappy times, as "young, handsome, and well-informed." Can it be possible that the superior activity of her mind, and the industrious efforts of her hands, could have involved her in the disgraceful and frantic measures, which terminated in herself and five others being burned for witches in 1626? This unfortunate female was urged by her friends to put in a plea to delay her execution—she replied, with the dignity of a Roman matron. "No; my honour is already destroyed, and my life is not worth defending!"