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ILLUSTRATIONS OF EVERY-DAY LIFE. 119
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
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objects connected with domestic economy ; and when Ms plans were matured , having obtained the sanction of the Council of the Society of
Arts and the approbation of the Emperor of the French , he took the first step towards carrying out his design by organizing a collection
of the kind for the Great Paris Exhibition in 1855 . A similar one was formed during the next year in Brusselsand the interest shown
in these two temporary exhibitions encouraged , Mr . Twining to devise the scheme of a permanent one in England . Under the auspices
of the Society of Arts , this sagacious philanthropist at his own expense gathered materials to form the nucleus of the present collection
, which was subsequently increased by various _apjoropriate contributions from other quarters ; and the erection of the Educational
Museum at South Kensington offering a favourable opportunity for putting it under the guardianship of Governmentand thus making
, it a truly national institution , it was formally made over to the Department of Science and Art , and by them thrown open to the
public , with the rest of the building , in the summer of last year . The main object of the Collection , as explained in the yet
unpublished Catalogue , is "to bring together and render practically available every means for improving the condition of the working classes
and more especially to enable them to acquire , in an easy and agree- , able way , a knowledge of the origin , distinctive _projDerties , and
relative value for use , of everything that appertains to the necessities and comforts of common life , and thus to show them how they
may lay out their earnings to the best advantage . " Though at present the arrangements are only provisional , quite enough may now be
seen to show not only the nature of the plan , and how admirably it is adapted to accomplish the ends thus aimed at , more especially
when it shall have reached its full development , but also that its benefits are by no means likely to be confined to the " working
classes , " unless in the broadest signification of that term . The department of Costume , -which , first presents itself on
entering , is the least complete of any ; indeed , there is merely sufficient to give an idea of what is intended to be effected ; but even
here the sight of several suits of clothing from countries in the north of Europe , labelled with the announcement that the cloth
for the man ' s coat and waistcoat is woven by his wife , and indeed that every one of the articles for either male or female wear , except
the hat for the former , is made at home , may give rise to some not unprofitable reflections , as we look back into the past and
remember how short a time has elapsed since like labour was the lot of women here , and forward into the future to mark fresh fields for
England's manufacturing energies . A cloak , too , formed of plaited hay by the Portuguese peasantry , will assuredly call up visions of
the rich vineyards on which their labour might have been more profitably bestowed to furnish a refreshing draught for the thirsty
Yorkshire or Westmoreland weaver , and the warmer and more
graceful cloth mantles he would gladly supply to them in exchange ,
Illustrations Of Every-Day Life. 119
ILLUSTRATIONS OF EVERY-DAY LIFE . 119
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1858, page 119, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041858/page/47/
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