Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 June 1889 — OLD LACES. [ARTICLE]

OLD LACES.

Why They Are Worth a Great Deal Mere Than New Fabrics. Many of our girls do not know why old lace is so much more valuable and generally so much more beautiful than new lace. The fact is, that the valuable old lace is all woven in lost patterns. It is frequently as fine as a spider's film and can not be reproduced. The loss of patterns was a severe check to lace making in France and Belgium, and was occasioned by the French revolution. Before that time whole villages supported themselves by lace making, and patterns were handed down from one generation to another. They were valuable heirlooms, for the most celebrated weavers always had as many orders as they could execute in a lifetime, and they were bound by an oath taken on the four gospels, to work only for certain dealers. When the reign of terror began all work of this kind was interrupted for a time. After the storm had subsided the dealers and workers were far apart—some dead, some lost and . c ome escaped to foreign lands, and such of tiie women as remained were bound by their oath to work for but one; and this oath, in spite of Robespierre's doctrine, was held by the poorest of them to be binding, and there were instances where they suffered actual wunt rather than break their word. Sonic, however, taught their children and their grandchildren, and many patterns were in this wav preserved Some of the daintiest and finest patterns were never re<overod. and to-day specimens of these laces arc known to be worth their weight >a gold. .