m direct imitation of any
foreign rugs. Mrs. Albee has aimed, not to reproduce Oriental effects,
but to have the designs original and distinctive. Fortunately, for years
previous to the establishment of this industry, she had studied the
principles of design and their application to various textiles, and the
knowledge which she thus acquired has proved most valuable.

The designs are bold and effective, but fineness of detail is precluded
by the strips of material, each of which is a quarter of an inch wide.
The color is arranged in broad masses.

The _New England Hooked_ or _Rag_ rug has for its foundation a strip of
burlap or sacking. Through this, strips of cloth are hooked, which form
loops, and this surface may be sheared or not, as the maker desires.
There is such an absence of attractiveness in the old-time rag rug, that
several women of taste and experience in art methods have sought the
improvement of this industry. The results have been excellent, so that,
ugly as the original rug is, it is esteemed as being the progenitor of
the more artistic Abenakee, Sabatos, and Onteora rugs.

The _Sabatos_ rug is a product of the little mountain village of Center
Lovell, Maine, started in 1900 by Mrs. Douglas Volk of New York. She has
now about a dozen women engaged in the work, this number including the
spinners, dyers, and weavers.

The Sabatos rug is durable, harmonious in color and design, and is
distinctly a home product. The wool of which it is made is sheared from
the flocks of sheep in the vicinity. The shearing takes place annually
in June; the wool is then carded, spun, and dyed. The threads of
hand-spun wool are worked through a hand-woven webbing, and securely
knotted or tied with a specially devised knot. The designs thus far are
mainly adaptations from the native American Indian motives, which are
simple and characteristic, furnishing a chance for broad color effects.

A special point is made of the dyes employed, those of vegetable origin
ruling, and only those dyes which from experience have been found to be
practically fast are used,--such for instance as genuine old Indigo
blue, madder root, and butternut.

Berea College, Kentucky, is endeavoring to encourage the weaving of rag
rugs of a superior order. So far, the industry which was started in
1905, is in a primitive state, the natives preferring to weave cotton
and wool coverlets, the designs of which they brought across the
mountains with them f