Plate 72.

Silk net wedding veil. Made and worn by Martha Harness when she married Isaac Darst on the plantation of her family, Moorefield, Virginia, June 17, 1817. Mulberry trees had been planted and silkworms raised quite extensively at that time in the United States, a speculation which failed grievously about 1830. However, this little bride made a success in growing her silkworms, reeling the silk from the cocoons and spinning it into a fine thread which she netted with a fine mesh into a veil, tubular in form, which enveloped her from head to foot except her face. When she wore it, it stretched to enclose her figure; when pulled off it was about seven feet long and edged at the bottom with a soft, narrow fringe of the silk.

Mrs. Harness died early, and her daughter, becoming mistress of the plantation while very young, carried at her belt the inevitable bunch of keys which every southern matron kept on her person in the days of slavery. The yearly store of supplies was kept on the plantation under lock and key. Some writers have assumed that the welfare of the slaves was not considered by their masters; but this mistress of the house, like many others, superintended the clothing of all the colored people each season before she attended to her own wardrobe, although she liked to dress well. Her husband was a good business man, and her ability contributed greatly to his success in the many enterprises in which he engaged. Two brothers brought her, from their trips on horseback to Philadelphia, many gifts, including pieces of dainty silverware. Her grandchildren remembered with delight her habit of keeping in her corner cupboard glass jars filled with sticks of lemon, vanilla, and peppermint candy as well as raisins, annis and caraway seed, and stick cinnamon.

The veil kept well till two years ago, when it began to fall to pieces; so that it has been difficult to reproduce it. It is owned by the maker’s great-granddaughter, Mrs. G. Glen Gould.