Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1871-08-10
LAURA'S STORY.
BY OLIVE THoRNE.

By OLIVE THoRNE.
Well, Laura" said grandpa Willard,
when they were all seated in the library,
snow let's hear how fluff of cotton
and block of wood got to be spool
of thread"
Grandpa had offered prizes to the
Willard children, for studying out, and
giving clear accounts of making some
| things in common use, and Laura had
been turning over encyclopedias and
searching out authorities on the way of
making thread. When her grandpa
spoke, she shut up her book, and drew
back her chair.
"The first thing know about the cot
ton, is that the pod grows on the cotton
bush, till it is as big as an egg, and then
it bursts out in long eXquisitely beau
tiful bunch of cotton, several inches
long. Here is one to look at" and she
opened box which she produced mys-
teriously from under the table, and ex-
hibited to the group beautiful speci-
men of the cotton ball burst open.
"Where did you get it?" burst out
the children.
"Mrs. Willis let me take it. She
brought it home from the South. "The
first thing they do with it." Laura went
on, dis, of course, to gather it, and the
next thing, is to get out the seeds, which
they do by the Cotton Gin.
ado you know how they got the seeds
out in old times ?'' asked grandpa.
"No, DON'T" said Laura.
They had to pick them out, one by
one, by hand, and good man could
only pick one pound in day.
"That must have been pretty slow
work." said Allen.
at was. A Cotton Gin will clean
how much, Laura? ?"
"Three hundred pounds day; so it
does the work of three hundred men,"
"Idon't see how 4 machine can pick
ont Seeds" said Allen. --
"Can YOU tell him, Laura?'
"I'guess / can. The cotton is fed to
the machine by men. As it goes in it
comes to a roller covered with teeth,
made of wire; these teeth seize the cot
ton and drag it through a very fine
CRATE, so fine that the seeds can't get
through; so they just have to stay out
side"
aPoor seeds :" laughed Allen. 81 don't
see but teeth do as well rs fingers, after
ALL"
"Better, in this case," said grandpa,
abut tell us about the tooth brush,
Laura"
The children opened their eyes, and
Laura laughed.
"The teeth have to be cleaned before
the roller gets around, SC that they can
take up more cotton, and the tooth brush
is roller brush, which takes the cotton
off beautifully as the roller goes round"
"What is a roller brush? ?" asIed
Nelly. ...-
It's nothing but big roller with
bristles all over it, instead of on one side,
rs our brushes are. saw picture of
it," answered Laura.
"Well, go on with the cotton said
grandpa.
1t is then packed into bales and sent
to the cotton mills, where the first thing
is to clean it. The finest, such as thread
is made of, is laid on a frame made of n
sort of net work, and beaten with
bundles of twigs. The dust and dirt
fall through the net work. Then it is
called batting
Cotton batting that mamma puts
into comfortables ?" asked Nelly.
Eyes" answered grandpa, sand if it
was to be nsed as batting, it would now
be folded and rolled up, paper pasted
around it, and sent off to the store. But
Laura's cotton can't stop here, it
goes -"
"To the carding machine" broke in
Laura.
"What does that do?" asked Allen.
"That lays the threads all one way"
"Why, what threads?" asked Nelly.
"Don't you know" asked grandpa,
"that though cotton looks like fleecy
cloud, it is really composed of very fine
threads, or fibres ?n
al didn't know it," answered Nelly.
"These fibers can be seen with / mi
croscope after the cloth is worn out, cut
up in paper mill, and made into pulp
that looks like milk. Now Laura -"
"Thc carding machine lays the threads
one way by drawing it through wire
teeth. 1t comes out into a roller and
looks like wide ribbon made of a
cloud"
at must be just lovely" said Nelly.
Z" 1t is" Laura went on, "and it seems
too bad to have it drawn through a fun
nel."
swhats funnel?' interrupted Nelly.
sHor shouted Allen, Il know. It's n
tin thing, big at one end and little at
the other, to pour things through
'Oh yesr said Nelly. sAnn has one to
fill the castor bottles.'
when the cotton comes out of the
funnel Laura went on, sit is quite small
and firm, but to make it still closer, it
goes between heavy rollers, which press
it very tight
SIN that state it is called 'Roving,''
said grandpa. where does it go next,
Laura
TO the spinning machine-called a
Mule said Laura.
what funny name for machiner
laughed Nelly.
'These machines have each twenty
two hundred spindles, so they can spin
faster than twenty-five hundred spin
ning-wheels, attended by only one man.
The books say that there are i'm constant
use in the world, for cotton alone, forty
millions of spindles.'
'Do you believe it grandpa" asked
Allen.
sWhy shouldn't L. asked grandpa,
'when the facts have been collected, and
printed in reliable books? The day has
gone by, Allen, for refusing to believe a
thing, merely because you don't see how
it can be. L can tell you still more
wonderful things that l saw in the
Worlds Fair, in London, when Laura
has finished making her spool of
thread
Laura went on. THE thread, after
being spun very fine on the Mule, needs
to be deprived of a sort of ftlzz which
covers it, so it is run very fast through
4 gas flame, which burns it off,
Il should think it would interrupted
Allen, laughing, 'and the thread too
It goes so fast that the thread hasn't
time to burn, and then it goes over a
brush, to remove the ashes or remains,
and at last through tiny hole in
brass plate, just large enough to let the
thread go through
'What does that do to the thread p
asked Nelly.
That is for the purpose of making the
thread perfectly even. If there's knot
or thick place in the thread, it won't go
through, and can be taken away. From
this it is wound off into skeins, and put
up in five or ten pounds bundles
why don't they put 1t on spools?'
| 1T isn't what we call thread vet" said