North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1870-02-16

4 Chinese silk Factory.
A correspondent Of the Cincinnati
Commercial writes from Canton:
II directed my guide to take me into
the silk-weaving streets. We soon
entered them. I at once dismounted to
make q careful observation Of their
modus operandi for the production of
this renowned fabric Of Oriental looms.
All around me was silk, silk, nothing
but silk. In small, dark houses, little
better than novels, were seen people,
chiefly women, dyeing this delicate tex
tile. Outside, in filthy yards and pig
styes, over the ground where the family
swine were wallowing, were placed bam-
boo poles, wherein were hanging skeins
of colored silk, just from the dye, and
glowing with the most vivid hues, as
they hung for drying in the sunshine
over the loathsome pools below. l Wis
tied several Of their weaving shops.
They were quite similar in their fixtures
and arrangements.
/ spent some time in examining one
Of the largest. It was, perhaps, one
hundred feet long and about sixteen
feet wide. The walls were of coarse
clay blocks, sun-dried, unpierced by
single aperture for air or light, save at
the front, which was entirely open the
whole breadth ofthc building. The floor
was simply Of trodden clay, uneven and
untidy. An aisle ran down the centre,
just wide enough for one person to pass
on either side Of this were ranged the
nearest looms, and standing as close to-
gether as they could be placed.
Two or three persons were employed
on the work of each loom. The looms
are plain communicating affairs almost
Of the same kind, as to appearance and
mode of manipulation, as were those
upon which our grandmothers in Ohio
used to weave the linsey-woolsey for us
Western boys, when even the preacher
was almost stranger to broadcloth.
Squatting myself down by one of these
friendly-looking acquaintances of my
boyhood, l leisurely watched the deli
cate and diligent manipulations of the
weaver and his assistants as their
shuttles few to and fro in the may
mystery Of figures and flowers that came
gradually out larger and palmer upon
the glowing surface of the gorgeous
fabric which those skillful workmen
were there creating under my eye. So
complex were the movements of the
men on these simple-looking machines,
and SO marvelously beautiful were the
products resulting therefrom, that I
gazed with unbounded amazement upon
this work Of silk-weaving as it progress
ed before me.
The weather being warm and the shop
crowded, the workmen were almost max
ed. Ny visit interested them mani
testify, yet not loom ceased its clicking,
clacking noise not a man left his en-
ployment to gaze, but | detected them
giving furtive glances and exchanging
mutual smiles among themselves at the
curious stranger who had thus uncere-
moniously squatted himself down i'll
their midst, by one Of these humble
looking looms, on dirt floor, within
homely clay walls, where, nevertheless,
are produced these magnificent fabrics
which for ages, and throughout the
world, have been the pride Of wealth,
the envy of beauty, and the admiration
and desire Of royalty. Far down, and
and nearly to the extreme limit of this
long room, was plain board counter,
extending quite across the room. Be-
hind it stood the proprietor Of the fac
tory, a smooth-faced. richly-clad China
man.-Directly over him the building
was unroofed, thereby affording a spaci-
GUS skylight !; except this window, there
was none. Through this skylight, and
down upon the counter below, the sun
shine fell upon the finished work Of this
dingy, dirty, squalid-looking workshop.
The proprietor was busy measuring off
and packing up the products of his
looms.
And, as the sunlight streamed full
upon the gorgeous colors Of those mag
nifcent silks, satins and brooches, which
the proprietor was tossing about in
billowy radiance, it seemed to my eyes,
as l stood far up in the feeble light Of
the centre Of the room, as though he
were tossing and toying with rainbows
From places so humble and surroundings
50 squalid as this, come these royal
fabrics which are to decorate palaces
and to adorn the persons of princes and
monarchs of the earth"