Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/361

270 from Massachusetts rose in their pkices, to second in a body the nomination of Mrs. Deane. She had also many pledges from other States. Her withdrawal in favor of the candidate rep- resenting Colorado and Wyoming was a great disappointment to her many friends.

Mrs. Deane is a mendjer of the Ladies' Aid Association of the Soldiers' Home in Massa- chusetts, also of Quequechan Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.

Her husband, wiio is in hearty sympathy with her work, was Major of the Twenty-ninth Massachusetts Regiment, and has received a Congressional medal of honor for special bravery on the field. He was in many of the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac. Major Deane was appointed Assistant National Inspector of the G. A. R. by Commander-in-chief Lawler, and, after filling several offices in the Department of Massachusetts, G. A. R., was elected Department Commander in 1897.

After leaving the army Major Deane followed the profession of teacher, but for several years past has been a successful merchant in Fall River. Major and Mrs. Deane entertain many friends in their beautiful home in Assonet, a suburb of Fall River. They have four sons and one daughter.

LORENCE GERTRUDE WEBER.-Florence Gertrude, the only child of Charles and Henrietta (Ingram) Bickford, was born in Boston, April 8, 1870. She was married to Emile J. Weber, by the Rev. E. Winchester Donald, September 22, 1897. Mrs. Weber's education was obtained at the Winthroj) Grammar School and the Girls' Latin School, where she was graduated in 1889. Then some years were passed in the study of art — modelling, drawing, and water- color sketching — and two years were devoted to the history of European countries. During this season of study she became deeply im- pressed with the development in the Middle Ages of the feminine arts of embroidery, weaving, and lace-making. By inheritance the art of the needle was hers. Curiously, the task of reconstruction always possess(>(l for her great charm. In the mending of formidable lent in any textile, the finer the stuff and the larger the hole, the more absorbing was the occupation. A gift of insight into the construction of things was also coupletl with technical skill, and thus, when she mended a fabric, she came to understand readily how it had been woven. One day, while she was mending for an acquaintance a point lace collar which had met with an accident, there came to her this thought: "If any woman can make that lace, I must be able to do so also." Fine laces had always been dear to her heart, and she possessed a few simple pieces of Valenciennes, English thread, and Honiton.

Like all well-onlered Boston girls, she went first for information to the Public Library. There were many volumes on the history of lace, and a few about how to make it, most of the latter being in German, French, Italian, or Russian. Here the Latin School training, in going to the root of matters, came in, as well as the instruction in French. German had been learned outside of the school, so she read all the German and the French books. Then, as some Italian books contained interesting illustrations, she set herself to work to study Italian, so that she could translate these also. In the meantime she began to produce bits of Venetian point lace, but the lack of proper thread was a great obstacle. Securing some little balls of the finest to be hail here, she cut out a few inches at a time where it ran fine, and rejected the rest; but even this was not suitable for fine mesh, which is the fond of Brussels point.

At this stage of her progress, pillow lace making began to invite her attention. No materials were at hand. Torchon lace was not what she sought it was the "piece lace," such as Honiton and Duchesse, and here she came to a halt. Not a book in the library offered any technical information. At the Arts and Crafts Exhibition in Copley Hall in 1899 was a case containing laces made by an Italian woman, whose address was given in the catalogue. While the lace was of the torchon variety, Mrs. Weber felt that at least she could acquire the use of the bobbins, and the next day took her first lesson. The little Italian woman spoke no English, and Mrs. Weber's