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uggr r :*-**V\; A PERSIAN RUG WEAVER AT WORK. •^^■^HERE, that’s a rood picture of ■ nn oriental rug weaver,” 2 rail th*- editor. “And speak- * ing of rnr.i," continued the editor, ”I lira: d Murnford, the expert, lecture last night on oriental rug'. Ke must have had $20,000 worth of them with him. I never raw such roods, thh it, nft. fin* and exquisite In color ing. Murnford said one might examine a hundred of tliem, and he would never And any that vtat quite regular In shape or design. The orientals have a superstition that a rug of perfectly regular pattern bring* bad luck, whether to the owner or maker he did not s.:y.” "The maker's bad luck would be rot ting: a small price for the rug, 1 should ■ay.” remarked the scribe. "Tho maker doesn't rot much for It In any case. In orient, as in Occident, the one who docs the work does not rot the money. Some of these beautiful oriental rues take the lifetime work of •everal persons, and they sell for thou sands of dollars each, many of them to American multimillionaires.” K *t •The designs, though, are often made In America," said the scribe, with patriotic pride. "They are made here by young women from the schools of applied design and sent to the orient to be fabricated there — brains in America, fingers in Asia.” "yes," replied the editor. "Murnford Bald so, and he said, too. It was the ruin of the oriental rug artistically. It Is tho same old story everywhere—com mercialism destroying art. The designs sent over from America are Incongru ous and Inappropriate applied to orien tal rugs. For uges these have been made on patterns significant and sym bolical. Many had Mohammedan aph orisms and pious sentences wrought Into their texturo. The weaver wove his thought and soul into the work. Tou can seo the man in the picture is doing that. "Murnford showed us Mohammedan prayer rugs with one place for the forehead to be bowed upon quite to the ground, another spot for tho knees, an other for tho.feet.’' "I suppose It would be black magic, devil worship, like saying the Lord’s prayer backwards. If the true believer happened to get his head where his feet ought to be upon the rug,” said the scribe. "No doubt. And hundreds of Ameri cans tramp over these prayer rugs In their Yankeo homes every day and don’t know or care what they are. The true follower of the prophet car ries one of them with him on his travels, and when the muezzin cries | the hour of prayer down the rug goes anywhere Its owner happens to be and i down he ‘flops’ upon it and mumbles the words for such occasions made and j provided.” "Oh. yes." said the scribe. "I remem ber in ’Kim’ how Mahbub All. the * Afghan horse dealer, used to take some j hours ofT when business was slack and put in the time praying with sundry I ‘bellowings and dry washings.’” I "Just so. But the old scheme is all ! going to pieces now under the present j rampant commercialism. Even the j soft, durable vegetable dyes used i through all the ages by eastern carpet ■ weavers are being abandoned for ani line colors." "And the costliest Persian rug will fade as rapidly as a girl’s red straw hat under a July sun. In one day It will [ he done for,” said the scribe, with rue ful recollections of delicate mauves and blues which appeared and were not like Jonah’s gourd. "Just so again. It wjll hardly pay, then, to tie 50.000 knots by hand into every square yard of rug. as the man in the picture is doing. Murnford showed us how each knot is tied, one at a time, and how the ends of the threads are cut off and all done so rapidly that the eye of an outsider can hardly follow the process.” "How Interesting that lecture must have been.” “I should s.iy. And yet numbers of my respected fellow citizens, wealthy merchants, sat there and slept through it all.” "But the women didn't go to sleep?” The editor smiled. “You bet they didn't," he said. *t * Probably the most famous floor cov ering in the world, certainly one of the most beautiful of all, is one now' shown in the South Kensington museum. Lon don. It is a prayer carpet, 33 by 20 feet, from the Persian mosque at Arda- bil. An inscription woven into the rug says, "The work of the slave of the Holy Place, Malisoud of Kaslian, in the year 942.’’ Mahsoud of Kashan was the name of the slave and -the year 942 of Mohammedan chronology is 1535 of the Christian era, so that this precious prayer carpet is 372 years old. William Morris, the poet, who did so much for art in England, discovered the carpet and assisted by several wealthy per sons purchased it for the South Ken sington museum. Its cost was $12,500. Another historic rug carpet is that which was shown for the first time in England at the Crystal palace exposi tion in 1851. It belonged to Maharajah Goolab Singh, the ancestor of the pres ent distinguished Anglicized Hindoo family of Singh. This carpet was made wholly of silk and contained 10,000 knots to the square foot. * « To account for the high price, rare coloring and wearing qualities of these oriental rugs it must be remembered that they are made entirely by hand, the workman tying knots one at a time, in rows across the web or foundation threads, which are stretched In the loom above and in front of him. The woolen threads for the knots hang in reels above the workers. They snatch a thread from the reel, cut it with a knife, hook it through the strong threads of the web. tie it, cut the'ends the right length' and on to the next knot. Many of the most valuable Per sian rugs are made by boys eight to twelve years old. They sit in rows and knot, knot all day. Many poor Per sians begin this knotting in earliest boyhood and keep it up till they die of old age. They have knotted their lives into fabrics which the careless feet of the rich and arrogant crush in to the dust and grime. , X * About rug and carpet making in America. The less said of it the better, some aesthete will exclaim. Well, one doesn’t know about that. We must have carpets and rugs both for com fort and for appearance. If American inventive genius gives us sightly and serviceable floor coverings at prices w’ithln reach of all. then welcome car pet and rug machinery. It has already wrought a revolution in the prices of floor coverings. Those who remember twenty years back will recall that brussels, axminster and velvet carpets are now much cheaper than they were then. Tho reason is that American machinery, yes, and American com mercialism, if one desires to call it so, are now turning out the above carpets equal in all respects to those formerly imported at high prices. Indee'd we may rest assured that in all kinds of floor covering except those considered strictly “high art,” the American ar ticle is as good as the best and as cheap, counting in import duties. And no foreign land, not even. Japan, has produced anything handsomer than the Minnesota grass carpet. »£ tr. In the way of American art rug work the most interesting and significant is that resulting from the movement which is restoring to us the handmade vegetable dyed rag and woolen floor coverings which our great-grandmoth ers made and which wore forever Nothing will ever be more serviceable or appropriate, more attractive look ing even, for the kitchen and dining room of a country house than theso same rag carpets. The vegetable dyes tho pioneer women used wore made from the same varieties of plants as the Persian rug dyers employ. t» » This movement to restore pioneer feminine handicrafts and elevate them to the dignity of art began at Deerfield, Mass. A number of ancient dames who had not forgotten how to spin, weave, knit, dye and braid rugs were found, and they were quite willing to teach all they knew to the younger women. Tao aim was commercial as well as artis tic. for it was hoped the resurrected industry might be placed ’on such a footing as to make it remunerative to farm women who have little money in the course of their earthly pilgrimage. In both respects the enterpri e baa been successful. It soon spread to other localities. At Cornish, N. H.. the country rug makers have a flourishing club and clubhouse of (heir own. It was furnished from the proceeds of their rug making, which has paid them well. X X The home rug industry was inau gurated by women from the largo cities who were accustomed to spend the summer in rural Now England. Seeing how successful it was a firm of manufacturers induced some of the mountaineer women of South Carolina to make tho oldtime rugs and cloths, offering at the same time to take all their product. There, too, rag rug making proved a paying occupation. But if any man wants to have his wife regard him as a superior being throughout the remainder of his pres ent incarnation, let him make her a gift of a good sized, really truly Per sian rug. HELEN BARNABY. SHORT KINGS. There is hardly a king in Christen dom whose, wife .does not overtop him by a head. King Edward is quite six inches shorter than Queen Alexandra. The czar, a little man. is overtopped a full head by the czarina. Kaiser Wilhelm is of njedium height, but the German empress is tall, and that is why the proud kaiser will never consent to he photographed beside his wife unless she sits while he stands. The king of Italy, short and squat.' hardly comes up to the shoulders of the tall, athletic Queen Helena. The. king of Portugal, though fatter, is less’ tall than his queen. Even the Prince of Wales is shorter a, good four inches than the princess. And the young king of Spain is sev-, eral inches shorter than his queen. E verything is changing for the better, several pessimistic women writers to the contrary. Tho cities are growing in opportunities and in variety of employ ments. as well its In size. Small towns are developing indus tries wild are giving chances to women as well as to men. Country life is no longer narrow. Good libraries, good entertainments, golf nnd country clubs are doing their share to take the place of narrow mindedness and gossip. Plenty of trains enable suburbanites to go to the theater in town and stay until the end of the play. The experience of a suburban dweller In the old days will show you what a tragedy this used to be. She wont to see Salvinl In "Othello” and had to ■curry out of the theater just as he was smothering Dedesmona! X X The newspapers and magazines are changing, and for this woman Is large- | ly responsible, for she herself Is en tirely different. The managing editor of a big New York paper said to me several years ago, "The woman’s page is doomed!” I wanted to say “Yours is!” but .1 politely refrained. I understood what he meant for all that; but, excuse me for flattering my self, I think I saw further than he. Being a woman, it is not much credit to my cleverness that I did. The old fashioned woman’s page is indeed dead, as dead as the sleeves of j three years ago. Need I say more? ; But women will never he tired of | reading about themselves—never, so long as there is a woman left. X »t Do you remember the time when it was the fashion for us to be strong minded? There were practically only two kinds of women in those days— those who read beauty recipes and those who wore bloomers. At least you would have gathered that im pression from seeing the woman’s page of any great paper. If you wanted to read anything in teresting you had to go into the men’s section, so to speak, and then you got not what you wanted, but what was The managing cilitor gices his opinion. w MRS. STEVENS, WIFE OF THE FAMOUS John F. Stevens, in oa duty, Is a born ■ooBsUmes keep him Stevens meantime 6h» was Miss Harriet O The eldest, De!and, is twenty-three years The second son. John F„ Jr., expects to youngst son Is Eugene, nine years old. Mrs. Stevens society. ENGINEER. handed out to you. The editor of.whom I speak was that kind of man. He ad mitted the dullness of the woman’s page, but since that was all you could put into it to fit the inferior mind of woman, why, he only saw death for it. That was all. X *S He could not foresee that there would be a reaction In matters feminine. Eut that reaction has come, praise he! We are now healthy and well bal anced and domestic and at the same time interested in everything on the face of the globe and—well, breath fails me. But I think the woman of 1907 is just about right. Woman is mora like the sphinx than ever, or the chameleon, if you want to put it that way. She has two or three sides to her, and she is interested in everything that concerns those two or three separate individualities. She may be a scientist, who is fond of read ing about how other women are pro gressing in her particular branch, and yet she does not disdain information as to the best floor polish that will en able her house to look spick and span. She is interested, too, in the latest ideas on how to bring up children, and she has her own notions on social re form. She— But if you really want to know what she reads and what she is, go to the nearest magazine stand and buy seven or eight of those publications devoted to woman. You will be surprised at the variety of subjects treated. The fact that these magazines have enor mous subscription lists ought to show you that women are getting what*they want and that woman lierse'.f has changed, has broadened and become versatile to the point of brilliancy. Yes, we still have fashions and beauty recipes, but the beauty recipes are fast growing into health recipes, and the fashion articles show you how to make clothes in the easiest as well as the most effective way. Besides, both of these subjects occupy one-half the space they used to. One of the moat delightful things about these pages devoted to women is that they show su<*h a burning desire on the part of the, entire sex for im provement—mental, moral and physical —together with such pluck and such energy it Is no woricler that the Ameri can woman is the winder of the world. There is such optimism, in those pages that it fills one with admiration. Only the other day I read a woman’s account of how she had supported and educated three small children, learn ing a trade for herself at the same time, and I tell you. newspaper woman though i am, it fairly brought the tears to my eyes. It was so clever and so plucky. *5 •? In the old days this woman would have allowed herself to he supported by those same children. She would not have struggled like a man. They would have been put to work early and would have received little or no education. Now they are all educated and settled in life, and she has a tiny home in the country bought by her own efforts. I happen to know the truth of this experience and of several others which have recently been published. Editors ? toll me they are But there are no longer any old peo- | erness would not allow her to play with pie in the old fashioned sense of the word. There are, to be sure, men and wo men more or less advanced in years, but class them as old people and watch how indignant they will get! No, indeed! They are just as lively, just as independent, brighter, perhaps, and more capa ble than they ever were. They have their hopes, am bitions, interests and occupations, Life in most in stances is too short for them all to be carried. The modern aged woman re sents the idea of being treated like broken chi na, with “rev erence.” In most cases There ore no longer ang she receives ad- old people. miration instead for her capable qualities, and her death is mourned as that of a useful member of society. Bless her! X X I am not a Christian Scientist, but I believe with them that disease and weakness and old age, whether mental or physical, may be overcome glori ously by every single one of us. The world is coming rapidly to that belief, and when we are all imbued with the conviction that we must all continue bright, energetic and useful, all over the | w ith a distinct part to perform^ in this country. In fairly swamped with good wo men’s matter sent by women The fashion teas strong minded. of this can not have enough of it, for women are eager to read it. It is the re naissance of wo man, not mas culine and not mushy, but as she was meant to be, inter ne ested in her home and in matters outside spite j world up to the very last day of life, they -what a glorious earth it will be! The woman's part of the newspaper dead? ! Not a bit of it! It is more alive than I it ever was—or rather, it is alive for i the first time. Women all over the I country are writing 1 letters and arri- | of her home, but, above all, bent on getting the best there is in life for her self and those about her. One can’t help but admire her! X »S The old proverb about the clinging vine and the oak still holds true. The husband should in every sense of the word be the sturdy oak of the family. I but when misfortune, illness or death | cripples him the modern vine j that she is of the variety that you see j in South American jungles—so strong ' that it can be used as a ladder, which will not give way no matter how great the weight it bears. * at Some one bewails that this genera- | tion has no longer any regard for old I people. New York. A CLEVER CHILD. Lady Jane Grey was the most learned child of which history has any record. Before she was nine years old she wrote a beautiful hand and was able to play on many different instruments. She could speak several languages, both ancient and modern, besides being well grounded in philosophy. When other children were playing, she would amuse herself by reading writings of the philosophers in the orig inal Greek She led a very lonely life when she was a child, as her mother and father hows j were often away at court. leaving her to the care of her governess and her schoolmasters at the gloomy family place edd why she 1 The b!g, square house was buil the edge of a great forest by acres of uninhabited 1 were very few books and not any news the servants' children, and there were no others suitable for her companion ship within miles. Poor little thing! She would have been happier with a little more love and a little.less learn ing. THE TERRORS OF INSOMNIA. While there are hundreds of. suggest ed remedies for insomnia or sleepless ness, not one is likely to be found ef fectual. in all cases, because the ail ment, if so it may be described, arises from differerit causes. One authority says a remedy is to be found in puffing at a clean empty tobacco pipe—wooden and curved. Having got into bed, the sufferer should lie flat on his hack with out a pillow and puff steadily at the empty pipe until he feels drowsy. It is said that from sixty to a hundred puffs will superinduce drowsiness. .Puff slowly, with a deep inhaling move ment. The expelling motion must be made deliberately, with narrowed lips. The pipe should not be removed during the entire operation, each displacing and replacing movement tending to wakefulness. The assurance is given, that nervous people need not fear dan ger in falling asleep with the stem of a curved pipe between the teeth. Sleep will relax the jaws, and the pipe will drop out. The empty tobacco pipe rem edy may or may not be effectual, but at any rate the practice is perfectly In nocent. WHY THE SEA SHELL SINGS. •Children for many generations have listened with wonder mixed with awe to the booming sound produced l>y placing a sea shell close to the ear which has been explained to them as the "roar of the sea.” In reality this sound is caused by the polished surface and hollow form of the shell enabling it to receive all sounds in the air about it and return the muffled echoes. OWNER OF THE MOST VALUABLE COLLECTION OF PEARLS IN THE WORLD. No queen or empress, not even the czarina of Russia, posses- d BradgaVe" Perhaps that is | and beautiful a collection of pearls as one American woman, Mrs. S. ecarne so learned. ■s so costly imuel New- house, does. She now lives in London and seme say is a member of the British on! court circle, though others say not, that she is only trying to be. Her history surrounded j is full enough of romance and incident to make her sufficiently Interesting of ad. There herself, without any aura of "sassietv” glamour. She married very young a poor Colorado miner who struck it rich and made an immense fortune. While. paper Grey a't the castle, and Lady Jane: he was developing his claims his wife, greatly to her credit, did her house- had no playmates, as her gov- I work and kept boarders. ITEMS GATHERED FROM THE WORLD Mme. Curie, discoverer of radium, who is now a full professor at the French university of the Sorbonne. is to have a laboratory of her own. mag nificently fitted up. Women in Europe are largely claim ing the highest educational advantages. Quite a number of them are studying In the German universities, either as bospitanten (special students) or a: semester 211 matriculated in tne uni versities of Germany, dents 10S are taking cine. 66 in philcsopl _ matics and the physical science sociated charities ly adopted twenty-three Mrs. Helen Avery TIar> maulcuiants. During the last summer i Yale college dramatic club boys There syste: on the houses Lewis-: dotv me: Locgir widow last public to man- low to loo!: r men. Mrs. Ada Hannah !I gave $J39.00G for the en- of the Ada Lewis Women's Houses. Mrs. I. •••: was the Ham Lewis, a famous money lender, who left an estate of $13,000,000. cf which over $5,000,000 was left to charities. Overdressing and poor ventilation are the causes of many colds among children as well as babies, and mothers ought to understand this. In a way it is quite as bsrl to have a child too warmly dressed as not sufficiently so. composed of 400 female warriors. At the age of thirteen they enter the royal service and remain in it until they are twenty-five, when they pass into the reserve. Their weapon is the lance, and they are splendidly trained in'the use of it. ?>Iiss Annie Kenny, one of the English north, who will confront the ministers ! walk further or endure more. She on the floor of the house of commons. J thoroughly understands the proper “Have you heard of the story about ; method of walking, and there is so the empty box?” asked a woman of an much in that, because one docs not acquaintance. “No.” “Ah, well, there was nothing in it!” A Baltimore teacher of physical cul- tire so readily then. I A woman is the originate of the new ideas in lamp : ture, who has given interesting lec-: are seen each season, and _ suffrage leaders, who has been im- tures upon the subject, demonstrates in the first case he becomes too prisoned three times, declares that if: her theory. She is seventy years old. to cold by the women suffrage is not granted during and yet is straight, slender, supple and .arm and is susceptibl r.r? fact that the pores are too open. The king of Siam has a bodyguard she has no small part i the fashion in these articles. At the marriage of a Britisi honor, if the queen consent. this session she will march a thousand graceful. No girlish figure is more ^ women cotton operatives from the i beautiful, and no one of twenty can i ceives $5,000 as a bridal gift. INDISTINCT PRINT