"The undertakers service in borrowing chairs, waiting upon the Pall-holders and warning the Relations &c. to attend 8/."
"B. Daland and B. Brown are appointed by the Selectmen to ſee that Free Paſſages in the ſtreets are kept open." (This was before carriages were used at funerals.)
Extracts from Mr. Colman's Agricultural Address.
MANUFACTORIES AND THE SPINNING WHEEL.
"The establishment of extensive manufactories, and the introduction of power-looms and spinning-jennies, has nearly destroyed the usual household manufactures, and put our other Jennies out of employment. Our ears are seldom greeted now a days in the farmer's cottage with the flying of the shuttle, or the deep base of the spinning wheel. We confess that we have looked upon their departure with a strong feeling of regret; and deem it no small abatement of the advantages, which the establishment of extensive manufactures has obviously yielded to the country, that it removes the daughter from the shelter and security of the paternal roof, and places her in a situation, which certainly furnishes no means of qualifying her for the proper department of woman; to preside over our domestic establishments; to perform her part in the joint labors of the household; and to know how and when and where to use, prepare, and to apply to the best advantage within doors, the products of man's labor without doors. Many occupations of female industry, strictly domestic however, of a healthy and agreeable nature, are constantly presenting themselves, so that there is little danger that the race of industrious women, and accomplished wives, at least among the country girls, will soon be extinct; and the silk culture, fast gaining ground among us, promises to furnish an unexhausted resource and a profitable employment of female labor."
Salem Observer, 1834.
In one of the numbers of the London "Spectator" for 1884 is an interesting account of an attempt to revive the spinning-wheel industry in England, through the kind offices of Mr. Albert Flemming, for the purpose of helping poor women too old or blind to leave their homes for other work. After considerable difficulty, a wheel was discovered among a store of ancient articles; but no one at first knew how to use it. Spinning was one of the lost arts, apparently. At length, however, an old woman of eighty-four was found who understood the use of the wheel. She taught Mr. Flemming how to spin. A few more old wheels were found, and some new ones constructed. Then it was some time before a loom could be discovered. Eventually this was accomplished, and the art of weaving taught. The account says that twenty women who were unable otherwise to obtain a living, are now busily at work, happy in being able to provide for their families. They make, it may be added, a good strong, honest linen, specimens of which have been presented to Mr. Ruskin. This account is substantially from the "Living Age," Nov. 1, 1884.
