Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1893 — THE SPINNING IN THE MALL. [ARTICLE]

THE SPINNING IN THE MALL.

Twas more than a hundred years ago And Boston town was young, yon know, In that for day, and what we call The “Common” now, was then the “Mall”— A line, old-fashioned name that meant A pablic green where people went To roam at will or play a game With “mall,” or mallet, much the same As now they play with bat and ball. Twas her.-, then, on the Boston Mall, More tha i a hundred years ago, There was the pret iest sight and show That any eyes had ever s en, Upon the lovely level green, F r in the cool and leafy shads That elm and oak tree branches mado, A littl : flock of smiling girls, Wi h dimpling cheeks and teeth of pearls, And modest cap and gown and frill, Sat spinning, spinuing with a will. An hour or more with girlish graco, The busy workers held their plaeo, And eager cr jwds came up to gaze, With some to wonder, some to praise, While newer comers beat to say— As you p rhaps may say to-day Who read this page—“Ob, tell us why And wherefore now these spinners ply Their busy wheels in sight of all, Upon the open public Mall? A curious show, a pretty scene, tint tell us what the show doth mean?” It means, it means, that long ag >, When Boston town was young, you kuow, Its councillors and rule s sought From d y to day, with praverful thought, To serve the interests of the town They held beneath the British crown. And so one day, amidst their wise And well-laid schemes of enterprise, A. scheme arose to b iug the art The Irish weavers knew by hcirt Into the t jwu of Boston bay. And ere the scheme con d cool, straightway A message went across the sea To Eiin’s shore, and presently In Boston harbor cam to laud A little group, a little band, Who jovially settled down Within the p ecincts of the town To teach the folk of Bost n bay To spin and weave their famous way. Bnt fancy their amazement there, The curious question, and the stare, When, flocking to the spinning class, Came many a high-placed little lass. “ ’Tivaj net for these the scheme war laid And carried out; the plau was mado For poorer folk,” the rulers cried. Then smiling g ntry-folk replied With never a word of yea or nay, But, Btill persistent, held their wjyl And thus it fcl. that high and low, And rich and po r, flocked to and fro Across the town tc lea:n the art The Irish weavers knew by heart, And such the skill was soon displayed, That by and by each littl; ma d, Or rich or poor, or high or low, Washomospun-diessed from top to toe. And then and there it came to pass The spinning -school, the spinning-clas', Became the fashion of the hour, And raged with such dosp >tic power That then and there the folk decreed And all the councillors agreed, That on the people’s public green These spinners spinning should be seen. —[Nora Perry, in St. Nicholas.