"The author has visited many lace-schools in Devon, and though it might be desired that some philanthropist would introduce the infant school system of allowing the pupils to march and stretch their limbs at the expiration of every hour, the children, notwithstanding, looked ruddy as the apples in their native orchards; and though the lace-worker may be less robust in appearance than the farm-servant or the Cheshire milkmaid, her life is more healthy far than the female operative in our northern manufactories" (1875).
"A good lace-maker easily earns her shilling a day, but in most parts of Devonshire the work is paid by the truck system, many of the more respectable shops giving one-half in money, the remaining sixpence to be taken out in tea or clothing, sold often considerably above their value. Other manufacturers—to their shame, be it told—pay their workers altogether in grocery, and should the lace-maker, from illness or any other cause, require an advance in cash, she is compelled to give work to the value of fourteen-pence for every shilling she receives. Some few houses pay their workers in money" (1875).
Medals were won at the Chicago World's Fair for Devonshire lace by Mrs. Fowler and Miss Radford, of Sidmouth. The latter has also received the freedom of the City of London for a beautiful lace fan, her sprigs being the finest and most exquisite models of flowers and birds it is possible to produce in lace. A third medal was won by the Italian laces at Beer.
Those held at Sidbury and Sidford are very successful, and the children, ranging in age from, nine to fifteen, come regularly for their "lace." It is interesting to watch the improvement in the work of the "flys," the first lesson, and as a rule each child makes forty to fifty before going on to anything further.
At Beer, where fishing is the staple industry, in bad fish seasons the women can earn more than the men; and at Honiton in the hard winter of 1895 the lace-makers kept themselves and their families, and were spared applying for relief—all honour to their skill and self-helpfulness.