Hand-Loom Weaving Part 1

Hand-Loom Weaving.

by Mattie Phipps Todd.

AN INTRODUCTION

For many years we, the teachers of the United States a.s.sembled in village, city, State, and national conventions, have recited our creed and chanted it in all keys.

[Sidenote: _Our creed_]

We believe that man is a trinity, three in one--head, heart, and hand, one soul made manifest; we believe that this union is vital and indissoluble, since "what G.o.d hath joined together" may not be rent asunder; we believe that this three-fold man, being "put to school" on earth to grow, may devise and bring to successful issue no scheme of education that is out of harmony with the plan of the Creator.

Congratulating ourselves upon our ready and distinct utterance of this lofty thought, we have calmly returned to our man-devised book-schools for the acquisition of knowledge, in order to forward some plan for the acc.u.mulation of more knowledge.

[Sidenote: _Deeds, not words, are now necessary_]

But "wisdom lingered"! Here and there voices were raised that would not be silenced: "You sang your beautiful song; what are you going to _do_ about it?" In the words of John Stuart Mill, "It is now time to a.s.sert in deeds, since the power of words is well-nigh exhausted."

Investigators, studying this union of head and hand from the physiological side, hurled truths at us that startled us from our lethargy.

[Sidenote: _Physiological truths_]

Every stimulus poured into nerve cells through the avenues of the senses tends to pa.s.s out in motor action, which causes muscular movement. In every idea are vitally united the impression and the tendency to expression in action. The nervous system consists of the fibres which carry currents inward, the organs of central redirection, and the fibres which carry them outward--sensation, direction, action. Since control means mental direction of this involuntary discharge of energy (directed muscular movement), control of the muscles means development of will as well as of skill. To prevent or cut off the natural outflow of nervous energy results in fatigue and diseased nerves. Unrestrained and uncontrolled expenditure of nervous energy results in lawlessness and weakened will.

Men of science said: "These are facts about man. What account have you made of them in your elaborate system for educating him?"

Students of sociological and economic problems called out to us as the teachers of men:

[Sidenote: _Labor must be respected_]

These great problems concerning the relation of labor and capital (the brotherhood of man) will never be solved until there is greater respect for labor; greater appreciation of the value of the products of labor; until there is more joy to the worker in his labor, which should be the expression through his hand, of the thought of his head, and the feeling of his heart; until labor is seen in its true light, as service; until the man with money as well as the man without learns through experience to respect and appreciate labor and its products. "We _absorb_ only so much as we can interpret in terms of our own active experience."

What contributions are our schools making to the bettering of social and industrial conditions?

Philosopher and poet--thinker and seer--send their message:

"That life is wisest spent Where the strong, working hand Makes strong the working brain."

To create, to make something, is the instinct of divinity in humanity, the power that crowns man as divine.

"It is his impulse to create Should gladden thee."

[Sidenote: _The will to do_]

The practical business man thunders his protest at us against the inefficiency of the man with only the knowledge-stored brain. He says: We must have men that can _will to do_, and then _do_ something, not merely men that can think of things "'twere good to do." Our public schools must train men and women to go out and take their place with the workers of the world, to do something well and effectively.

[Sidenote: _Systematic hand-training the work of to-day_]

At last we are awake, and throughout the country we are trying to heed these calls, and to revive our own weakened thought by action, singing our creed in deeds. Upon the foundations laid by Friedrich Froebel and his students in the kindergarten, we are trying to build up a course in systematic hand-training, through the primary, to intermediate and grammar grades, and thence to manual training in the high schools.

_What_ to do and _how_ to do it has now become the practical problem of the day. Everywhere the wide-awake primary teacher is sharing her thought and experience with her co-workers.

For little children, the _what_ must utilize material suitable for little fingers, and tools must be large. The finished product should belong to the maker, or be made by him as a service rendered to others; the result should also be worthy of keeping or giving, from the view-points of both beauty and utility.

Another important factor is the adaptation to present public-schoolroom conditions, and to present public-school treasury conditions.

[Sidenote: _Weaving the best hand work for primary schools_]

More thoughtful study has led to the abandonment of the old-time sewing and fine handwork in kindergarten and primary school. In its place we find the weaving of useful and beautiful articles, out of various available materials, and with simple, primitive tools--allowing always for much and varied use of the great tools, the fingers.

It is interesting to note that teachers in all parts of the country, working independently of each other, have come to practically the same conclusions, viz., that under present conditions, _weaving_ seems the best basis for a systematic course in industrial work that shall train head and heart as well as hand. It is also of great interest to remember that the signboards along the pathway of race development, by means of work, exchange of labor and its products, all point to this idea as the entering gateway. Weaving is the first industry of all primitive peoples.

[Sidenote: _This manual the result of study and experience_]

Being practically agreed as to _what_ shall be the first industrial work in the primary school, the next great question is the _how_. With large numbers of little children in her own schoolroom, the author of this manual has long sought a satisfactory answer. Believing that the results of her study and experience will be helpful to others in suggesting possibilities, and in stimulating thought, as well as in practical teaching and time-saving, she sends forth this little book with the earnest hope that it may in these ways be of real service.

ALICE W. COOLEY,

_Critic Teacher and Instructor, University of North Dakota._

_August 1st, 1902._

HAND-LOOM WEAVING

Chapter One

THE PRIMITIVE LOOM

[Sidenote: _History of weaving_]

Weaving, the oldest of the industrial arts, dates back so far that no one can say when or where it had its beginning. We read in Genesis iii, 21, that when Adam was driven from the Garden of Eden he wore a coat of skin; but, not long after, according to Professor Hurwitz, the descendants of Adam wore an upper garment called the simla, which consisted of a piece of cloth about six yards long and two or three wide, greatly resembling a blanket (_Ashenhurst_). This might have been woven from vegetable fibres, perhaps from wool, but in what manner we do not know. The warp and woof of linen and woolen garments is mentioned in Leviticus xiii, 47, 48.

[Sidenote: _Dyeing_]

Spinning and weaving have been practised by the Chinese, Hindoos, and Egyptians for thousands of years and carried by them to great proficiency. The Israelites were probably familiar with the art of weaving before their sojourn in Egypt, but it was there that they attained the skill which enabled them to execute the hangings in the Tabernacle. Joseph's "coat of many colors" is a proof that dyeing existed at a very early period, and the eloquent writings of Ezekiel tell us of the beautiful colored cloths of Tyre and Damascus.

[Sidenote: _Migration of weaving_]

From the ancient world the art of weaving pa.s.sed through Europe and became known in England after the Roman conquest. No doubt primitive weaving with vegetable fibres, and perhaps with wool, was known in a very crude way before that time. How the art developed, and how improvement followed improvement, makes very interesting reading for the student of textile fabrics.

[Sidenote: _Weaving as the first industrial art_]