Des Arc citizen., 1859-12-07
Origin of the Words Blanket, Worsted

a f a41 l. While Edward III, in 1887, repeated his invasion of Scotland, and .ravaged the country with great fury, burning Ab- erdeen and many similar towns" as the historian tells us, and while he was en-i gagged in raising an army 10 invade France in 1888, exacting from the impoverished people all their wealth to waste in the war; and when he was wasting France with war, borrowing money fiom all foreign princes who would lend him, pawn.
 ing the English crown which made him a king, that he nigh. still further extend de- struct;on over fertile France when in the battles which our historians and poets have so minutely recorded and loflily sung out, swords clashed with swords, and bat te-axes rung upon coats of mail. the warrior heroes of France, there was a servant of mankind making noise in Bristol, which was of infinitely greater service to England than the entire con- quest of Europe would have been.
 This was Thomas Blanket. The noise he made was not that of the clashing sword, but of the clashing shuttle. His purpose was not to destroy what his coun- try already possessed, but to give his country what it did not possess--blankets, covering of comfort to go to bed with, to sleep under. that il might be refreshed in sound sleep, and rise in health and strength to it's daily work of making man kind happier by being happier itself. l Thomas Blanket was soon initiated by hls neighbors, who, like him, set up looms in their own houses, and made woolen cloth I like that which he made. The cloth was named by his name to this day, through all time in this country will the name be known, though nothing else is known of this weaver than that he was the first to introduce the blanke, manufacture in Eng land. M m M
 No cloth of any kind had been wove in England before the reign of Edward Ill. We read that in 1881 John Dempt. from Flanders, introduced the weaving ol l cloth into England; that the King invited fullers, dyers and so forth, to come from Flanders and settle there. This policy on the part of Edward, was discreet. and, viewed in connection with some other of his actions, prove hlm to have had some perception of the real sources ol national well-being. But he no sooner allowed the cloth manufactured to be im- planted in England than he almost rooted it up again by restrictive enactments and oppressive taxes to carry 0n his wars The manufacture of the twisted double thread of woolen, called worsted, Wal introduced into England about this time ! or soon after. e
 The village of Worsted, about fifleer , miles from Norwich, was the first place where this thread was made, and il tool ' the name of the village. There is n'
 spinning nor woolen manufactures a e Worsted now, but from the tombs in sh'
 graveyard, and the benefactions left to tn
 parish, which are recorded in the church
 we have proof that the manufacturers Worsled were numerous, opulent, ant !, lived there in successive generations, dn s ring several centuries.
 It may also be noticed here that, atte F inquiring into the history of the parlsl .- and manufacturers of Worsted, we vislte' ? Linsey, which gave the name to tn !. fabric known as linsey wosey, and tn
 Kersey and the Mere close to il in Sui
 folk, where the workshops were situated
 in which the cloth called kerseymere wa n first made.
 nI The cloth so called now differs fror IS the original. and there is but liule trad
 of any kind in Kersey now. But, as
 Worsted, the graveyard aud the churc