The other advantage to lacemaking rather than farm/factory work was that they didn't have to find someone to look after their children. OK, it was the norm (at least in my grandparents' families, so no doubt the same is true further back) for the older ones to look after the younger, but babies needed their mother or a wet nurse (expensive?) to feed them. With mother at home making lace, she was able to keep watch over both her own youngsters and any infirm elders living with her. They could also congregate in one and another's houses, with their children, to save fuel and have some adult female conversation!
Jane Partridge ________________________________________ From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Elena Kanagy-Loux <[email protected]> Subject: [lace] The archetype of the lacemaker But I have also seen frequent reference to complaints in English villages for example, that women so much preferred to stay in and make lace that it was difficult to find female agricultural workers. So the work was "easier," relatively speaking, at least easier than back-breaking farm labor. Then of course, there is all of the recent discussions we had about how lacemakers were able to read patterns and make lace without the use of diagrams - making it a very stimulating activity and not at all akin to the maddening repetition of factory work, for example. (Of course, there are far more examples on both sides of this argument.) - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
