Re: [lace] Fwd: Life in Olney a Hundred Years Ago - Lace Tells Reference (Long Post)

[Diana Smith]

Dear Jeri and all

For a moment I thought you were referring to a book I have in my collection 
then realised my error. My A5 size green cloth bound book is entitled ‘Olney 
and the Lace-Makers’ published in 1864 by William Macintosh, London. It doesn’t 
mention an author but a receipt attached to the book names a Mrs Vernon.

I quote from the book: 
Upon inquiry, a friend residing at Olney has supplied me with the following 
particulars respecting the songs of “the lacemakers.”
“The children learn to make lace, not so much at home with their mothers, as at 
lace schools kept by dames. When the lace trade was better, most boys used to 
learn as well as the girls; and even men used to make lace, as they could earn 
more at ‘the pillow’ than at agricultural labour. I have seen old men who made 
good wages at the beginning of this century.”
“The ‘Songs of the Lace-Makers’ were of the same class as the Nursery rhymes, 
and were sung by the children while at work. The proficiency of the children 
was estimated by the number of pins they could stick in an hour. They were set 
so many score of pins, and counted as they went on. The singing, or rather 
chanting, assisted them in the counting, and also kept them together in their 
work. I am told that we cannot imagine either the effect of thirty or forty 
children’s voices uniting in this ‘sing-song’, nor yet the aid it was to them.
“These ‘Lace Tellings,’ as they were called, were repeated over and over, the 
number at the beginning lessening as the task appointed neared its conclusion, 
as - 
‘Nineteen miles have I got to go.’
‘Eighteen miles have I got to go.’
‘Seventeen miles have I got to go’.
“It is only the very old people who remember anything about these ‘Lace 
Tellings’, as they have not been used in the schools about Olney for many 
years. Latterly they have sung hymns, or some of the current songs of the day.
“From the specimens we have been able to collect from the memories of the old 
Lace-Maker in the *portrait, and one of her friends, few will be disposed to 
regret that the old ‘Tellings’ have become obsolete. These that follow are 
evidently the ‘Songs of the Lace-Makers’ mentioned in the Northamptonshire 
Glossary, as assisting ‘the young workers;’ and are thrown aside with other 
childish things on leaving the Lace school”.
*in the book is a lovely illustration of an elderly lacemakers and young girl 
working at their pillows.

I have left out the Tellings in the interest of space. If anyone would like 
them please contact me privately.

Diana in Northamptonshire.

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RE: [lace] Fwd: Life in Olney a Hundred Years Ago - Lace Tells Reference (Long Post)

[J-D Hammett]

Hi Devon, Jeri and fellow Arachnids,

Thank you Devon and Jeri for your very interesting (long) email on this book
and on lace tells.

Joepie


From: Devon Thein
Sent: 03 November 2017 16:19
To: lace@arachne.com
Subject: [lace] Fwd: Life in Olney a Hundred Years Ago - Lace Tells Reference
(Long Post)

>From Jeri


--
From: jeria...@aol.com
To: www.l...@arachne.com
Sent: 11/3/2017 10:50:14 AM Eastern Standard Time
Subject: Life in Olney a Hundred Years Ago - Lace Tells Reference (Long
Post)

Subject is the sub-title of a book published in 1890 by Seeley and Co.,
Limited, Essex Street Strand.   Main title is "On the Banks of the Ouse",
written by Emma Marshall.

This is a little-known work of fiction about life in 1790 (Jane Austen era
1775-1817) that some might like to read not only for the reference to Lace
Tells but also for other lace-related descriptions of that time, and by my
sharing, this will be in our Arachne archives. <...
..>

Submitted by Jeri Ames in Maine USA
Lace and Embroidery Resource Center

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