THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
How Cottage
Industries Added to Farm Family's Income
Many of you can probably
remember driving
through the countryside or going to a small town several years ago and
seeing
chenille bedspreads hung on clotheslines near the road, waving in the
breeze. A
hand-lettered sign at the display would announce FOR SALE. The salesman
would
be present to show the chenille patterns in those not on the line so
the
customer could choose one to his liking.
No doubt, some of these spreads
were made
in what has been termed "cottage industries," by farm women who
wanted to earn a little more money, especially in the wintertime when
the work
was lighter on the farm.
This practice was done during
the 1930s
when our country was still in the Great Depression.
I can remember my aunts,
As a child, I can recall my
fascination
with their work and how bright patterns of flowers (the usual design)
came to
life as they stitched in the colored heavy thread. There were some of
the less
common patterns sometimes. Some of these included a peacock with spread
wings,
a scene from nature, or a landscape scene. When finished, these latter
patterns
looked gaudy. Had we in our farm community been buying one of the
finished
bedspreads, we would not have chosen the gaudy patterns, for we were
conservative, even in home decorations. But the peacocks and other
designs were
popular at the roadside sales places.
Where did the traveling
"bedspread
man" get the spreads for the farm women to work on? A factory in
On winter nights, when the
outside chores
were done and supper (the evening meal; we always called it supper
then) was
finished and the dishes washed, my aunts sat down near the fireplace,
each with
a voluminous spread on which they stitched until bedtime.
It was a time of purpose and
also of
storytelling and fellowship. I remember the talk around the
spread-making.
Tales of their early schooldays and who taught them in the one-teacher
country
school; stories of ancestors who came into Choestoe before the Indians
left;
how-to accounts of how they learned to weave on the large loom in the
weaving
room and make the wool cloth they tailored into Grandpa's suits - all
of these
stories fascinated me. My love for history no doubt was born as these
dear
aunts sewed the spreads delivered to them in the "cottage industry"
era and told stories of past times.
Perhaps many more readers
remember the days
of the chenille spreads and how the women got paid for sewing in the
designs.
By today's standards, the pay would seem miniscule but every dollar
could be
used in those days to purchase items not produced on the farm.
Those were days of solidarity of
family and
of abiding by the Puritan work ethic, Hands found work to do that they
could
do. And they did the work to the best of their ability. It was from
watching my
aunts make those spreads that I learned an important life-truth:
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might"
(Ecclesiastes
c2008 by
Ethelene Dyer
Jones; published Mar. 13, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville,
GA.
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
Updated August 9,
2009
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