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    306 THE CULTIVATION OF

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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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    _. . . . The Irish Female Population Has...

    crochet , knitting , netting , and tatting , & e ., were established . The _Oensns of 1851 returned 902 pupils in them ; but this figure

    did not _re _£ _oresent the extent of the exertion to diffuse the knowledge of needlework . The rapidity with which it spread was

    something electric ; successive multitudes of girls passed through the initiatory process , and were soon reckoned as " workers , " under

    some of the anxiously active employers . About this time , every feminine handicraft was endeavoring to assist itself , and the

    women of Ireland united in grand bond against a common foe . " Nor did the slightest taint of sectarian jealousy sully the

    sublime charity of the hour , —the voice of nature crying out in her misery was alone heard and responded to ; and in the desire

    to do good , and to succour a common humanity , people were brought together , felt together , and acted together , who had been

    • estranged all their lives : " wrote J . F . Maguire , M . P ., in his " Irish Industrial Movement" ( p . 184 ) . And he adds ( p . 225 ) : " These

    ladies were all of a different religious persuasion from those whom they have assisted to elevate in a moral as well as material sense ;

    and yet they have never in the slightest degree attempted or desired to take advantage of the singular influence of such a

    position as theirs , to interfere with , the religious belief of their pupils—a fact which I deem too much to the credit of the purity

    , of their motives not to record . " At the National Exhibition held in Cork , in 1852 , a large

    number of samples of work done by the female poor appeared . Thirty-four of the exhibitors were ladies , patronesses of schools ,

    and a few were men of business beginning to deal with them for their productions . The following yearin Dublinforty-six schools

    , , exhibited , and an increased number of tradesmen .. The goods offered were sewed muslin and crochet lace ; the first an old

    acquaintance in the market , the other an entirely new creation . The origin of this latter fabric was peculiarand the course of

    , its development interesting . The phenomena connected with it , as && experiment in industry , are worth recalling for observation , and

    may be useful in promoting other schemes for social improvement . The operations of this period in our history affected the

    community so considerably , that their results are now easily discernible ; but there is no definite idea popularly entertained as to how much

    of the evil or the good of our condition is referable to them . Some account of that which was really evolved by , the action of the

    ¦ crisis will assist this matter , and is now' imperatively called for , by the fact , that the most marked feature of our day is the

    discussion of the wants of the class that was then subject to the treatment of the agencies we refer to .

    After-the Exhibitions , vast numbers of females found employment in the two trades _pTomi "nently _exjoosed . Manufacturers of sewed

    muslin took extensive advantage of the cheap labor , and speculated

    largely in that sort of work . But the novel lace entered into coin-

    306 The Cultivation Of

    306 THE CULTIVATION OF

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1862, page 306, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071862/page/18/