ms, called tape-looms, braid-looms, belt-looms, garter-looms,
or "gallus-frames," were seen in many American homes, and useful they
were in days when linen, cotton, woollen, or silk tapes, bobbins, and
webbings or ribbons were not common and cheap as to-day. Narrow bands
such as tapes, none-so-pretty's, ribbons, caddises, ferretings,
inkles, were woven on these looms for use for garters, points,
glove-ties, hair-laces, shoestrings, belts, hat-bands, stay-laces,
breeches-suspenders, etc.

These tape-looms are a truly ancient form of appliance for the
hand-weaving of narrow bands,--a heddle-frame. They are rudely primitive
in shape, but besides serving well the colonists in all our original
states, are still in use among the Indian tribes in New Mexico and in
Lapland, Italy, and northern Germany. They are scarcely more than a
slightly shaped board so cut in slits that the centre of the board is a
row of narrow slats. These slats are pierced in a row by means of a
heated wire and the warp-threads are passed through the holes.

A common form of braid-loom was one that was laid upon a table. A still
simpler form was held upright on the lap, the knees being firmly
pressed into semicircular indentations cut for the purpose on either
side of the board which formed the lower part of the loom. The top of
the loom was steadied by being tied with a band to the top of a chair,
or a hook in the wall. It was such light and pretty work that it seemed
merely an industrial amusement, and girls carried their tape-looms to a
neighbor's house for an afternoon's work, just as they did their
knitting-needles and ball of yarn. A fringe-loom might also be
occasionally found, for weaving decorative fringes; these were more
common in the Hudson River valley than elsewhere.

I have purposely given minute, but I trust not tiresome, details of the
operation of weaving on a hand-loom, because a few years more will see
the last of those who know the operation and the terms used. The fact
that so many terms are now obsolete proves how quickly disuse brings
oblivion. When in a country crowded full of weavers, as was England
until about 1845, the knowledge has so suddenly disappeared, need we
hope for much greater memory or longer life here? When what is termed
the Westmoreland Revival of domestic industries was begun eight or ten
years ago, the greatest difficulty was found in obtaining a hand-loom.
No one knew how to set it up, and it was a long time