T' Peggin' Rug

T' Peggin' Rug
by Christine Thistlethwaite

Not another hoil in t"earthrug?! 

Aye! Sithee, worn reight through! 

They don't mek things ter last these days — 

Not like they used ter do. 

Tek 'earthrugs fer an instance 

Wi' ther fancy nylon pile, 

Right posh they look when span kin' new — 

But yer notice in a while 

'ow dull they've gone, and kind o' frayed, 

An' t' pile all worn an' flat, 

I allus sez ther's nowt can beat tow'd fashioned peggin mat! 

When t' winter neets were drawin' in 

(No telly then, tha knows!) 

Me mam 'ud start ter sooart things out — 

Owd coits and worn-out clothes. 

Ther'd be a job fer each of us — 

While some cut t' cloth in strips, 

Another cut aw't buttons off 

An' th'ooks an' eyes an' zips. 

We clipped until we fingers ached 

An' thumbs were near red raw, 

By heck! it wor a stallin' job 

Wi' bits all ower t' floor! 

At last me mam 'ud say "That's it! 

We've getten fairish theer — 

We'll start ter peg termorrer neet 

Whan Dad brings t' frame in here." 

She'd draw a fancy pattern on a piece of harden sacking 

An' nail it in to t' frame ter mek a strong an' sturdy backin'. 

An' then t' best part of all began — all seated in a row 

We'd prod an' poke them clippin's in an' watch the pattern grow. 

On t' day as it were finished, an' down hi' t' fireside 

Me mam 'ud bring all t' neighbours in an' show 'em it wi' pride 

When yer nobbut 'ad linoleum, or a floor o' cow'd stone flags 

They browt a touch o' luxury — yon mats med out o' rags. 

Ah've one upstairs, still goin' strong, outside o' t' bathroom door

'at me dad and me were workin' on in 1944! 

What can yer buy these days as cheap, 'ardwearin', warm an' snug 

As yon owd-fashioned work of art? Aye! t' good owd peggin' rug

From: Times and Seasons,
Rhymes and Reasons
by Christine Thistlethwaite
(1986)

COMMENT: Making peg rugs was a common activity in working class streets in Yorkshire. With the guidance of my mother-in-law and her sisters, we made rugs here at Willow Bank in the 1990s, when Bradford Industrial Museum hosted workshops on making peg rugs as fashionable wall hangings. The memory gives much pause for thought.

There is no particular reason why the coming of TV should stop home production of rag rugs, or dressmaking, embroidery, or any type of art or craft. After all, the TV does have an 'off' button. Better still, one might consider following the advice of Jerry Mander, and smashing the one-eyed monster to pieces (See his Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, Harvester Press (1980)

See also his "In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations" Sierra Club Books 1991).

After all, members of households combining with other households on craft projects is one of the joys of life that has not been, and does not have to be, confined to the aristocracy. See Suzanne Fagence Cooper (2022) How We Might Live with Jane and William Morris, Quercus. Such activities have often been combined with telling folk stories, poetry reading and the much neglected art of reading aloud. (See Francesco Dimiti To Read Aloud: A Literary Toolkit for Wellbeing, Head of Zeus, 2017)

Many thanks to Christine Thistlethwaite. .