Memorizing Poetry

1903

To economize time in memorizing a poem it should be read as a whole; that is, entirely through each time. Tests made in psychological laboratories show that to memorize one verse at a time takes one-fourth longer.


Down of a Thistle

In China the down of the thistle is gathered and mixed with raw silk so ingeniously that even experts are deceived when the fabric is woven. It is also used to stuff cushions as a substitute for eiderdown, and a very good substitute it makes.

Navajo Blankets

1903

How They Won Their National Reputation

Though Navajo blankets as rugs, portieres, couch coverings and a dozen other things, have held their own in American homes for a season and more, there are many interesting details of their manufacture which are not known to the casual customer.

The impress of the Spanish cross, recalling the invasions of the Coronado expedition of 1540 is still paramount in this industry of the tribe. This marked the Navajo's first knowledge of the white race, and the later influence of Mexican art can be traced in the zigzagging diamond.

There is always one blanket weaver in a Navajo family, generally a woman, though sometimes a man, and the blanket frame which is erected outside the "hogan," or hut, is part of its architecture. This frame is of upright posts or rude poles. Kneeling or squatting in front of it is the patient weaver from morning till night.

The blankets are considered a medium of barter, as current as any coin among the neighboring tribes, for the Navajo's country is the finest for flock raising, and their wool far famed. The dyes used, too, are practically indelible, and their manufacture is a tribe secret.

The blanket is the banner garment of the squaws with 'dressy" aspirations, and the choicest of wigwam decorations. The care taken in the making of these blankets may be realized when one knows that two or three months are given to the manufacture of some of the more elaborate. No two of these are ever exactly alike, and for certain tribal ceremonies especial patterns are introduced. The choicest designs are reserved for enshrouding the dead, as the journey to the "Happy Hunting Ground" is considered much enhanced by the richness of the traveler's wrapping.

It is the Navajo blanket, too, that oftenest forms the charmed square of the snake dancing Mokis, and the sun dancers of the Shoshones and Arapahoes carpet their sacred enclosures with these same weaves that American bachelors and den devotees pay such round prices for. No wonder, with its history, its wealth of association, with its richness of color and originality of design, the Navajo blanket has attained a National reputation.

Carpet Weaving in Persia

1914
Process Seems Tedious, But the Production Is Celebrated Throughout the World
Generally speaking, the carpets of India can never excel those of Persia, as the materials used in the former are not of the same superior quality as those employed in the latter country.

The wool of which many of the best carpets are manufactured is obtained from Kashmir. Sometimes carpets which are mistaken for silk are really of an extremely fine quality of wool known as "pashm." This is obtained from the goats of Kashmir and grows close to the skin, being protected by the long arid coarser wool. It is as smooth and lustrous as silk and is used for the beautiful soft shawls for which Kashmir is famous.

Peculiar methods are employed by the Indian weaver in converting his original design into a textile. Instead of working from a colored drawing or diagram, the weaver has the pattern translated on paper into rows of symbols, each of which expresses the number of stitches and the color. With this written "key" in his hand, the head weaver sits behind his subordinates and dictates the pattern to them, one row at a time, all through the breadth of the carpet. These weavers — generally quite small boys — sit in front of the warp strings and tie in the requisite number of stitches of each color as called out to them by the reader from his ciphered script.

These boys, who perform the actual process of weaving the pile, follow day by day the dictations of the head man, knowing nothing of the pattern they are preparing, but gradually building up in a mechanical way the carpet on the strings before them.