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    146 WOOL KNITTING IN THE SHETLAND ISLAND...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    E. It Lias Frequently Been Observed, Alt...

    also cultivate small crofts of five or six acres , and this last , too , in incident a great measure to a seafaring by the aid life of the the women females ; for predominate owing to the in casualties numbers

    over the males in a curiousl , y large proportion . There is , accordingla numerous classconsisting of unmarried women and

    widows ( which y , , is who usuall , un y abl provide e to , d pay for rent by the for fishing one of , ) those have no small means farms of ,

    support whatever for themselves , and , it may be , a helpless infant famil

    y . workin Few Eng wives lishwomen and mothers of the of industrious artizans and classes labourers —energetic , willing , hard to - g

    be as _jDOSsible busy and — to can save comprehend , and to make the desolation the husband that ' s earnings overtakes go a as Shet far

    land cottager ' s family when the father , the bread winner , in the the prime eldest of his son streng beg th inning and lovingness to learn his —too part often in also the the sam next e perilous hope ,

    , life—frequently brothers or brothers-in-law besides—are all at once cut off ba sudden summer's storm . They who left a happy

    cheerful home y one bright afternoon , may ( if souls are permitted to look back ) see anguished weepingand the weakness and weariness

    of bereavement noiv ; cold and darkness , and hunger threatening in the futureThe landlord will have to let the little homestead to a

    . fishermanthe widow will have to find a small hut ,. with a patch of ground where , she raise a few potatoes . She will have to help

    her more favoured may neighbours with their work , who will repay her services with a little meal , or butter-rnilk or wool ; and when the

    boats come from the sea , she will get the produce of one hook marked for her bher late husband ' s neighbours . By the way , this method

    of showing y kindness to the helpless , is very common in some of the remote districts of Shetland ; and . oh ! doubt not , reader , that the

    God of Providence—the God of the widow—always takes care that the _ivicloitf s hook conies not to the surface empty ! But even with

    such helps as these , how shall she clothe herself and those poor children ? how get them " a quarter ' s schooling" now and then ?

    how procure light , or peats for firing ? They had a few sheep on the common—her little marriage portion—the share her mother

    allotted her , when her father had gone abroad as a sailor , and never returned . The young widow had been accustomed to _sx _^ in

    . and knit shirts and socks and mittens for him who will need them now no more ; she used to take such pride in seeing him well and

    warmly provided in these things by her hands ! But that occupation she returns to the knitting of fine shawls and veils and

    euch gone saleable , articlesas she had been accustomed to do before her marriage to provide her , own clothing . If there is any demand for

    them—if any commissions have come from the south—she may procure common clothing in exchange at the store—or if she is

    within reach of the manse , or the laird ' s family , or any other who

    146 Wool Knitting In The Shetland Island...

    146 _WOOL KNITTING IN THE SHETLAND ISLANDS .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1863, page 146, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051863/page/2/