The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-01-29
Story of a Seed.

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Georgia, O man planted little seed
The sun shone warm on it, and th,
rain came and softened it, and it sooi
began to sprout. Day and night i
grew, till it was high as mans head
Buds formed all over it, and one nigh
they burst into bloom. Beautiful cream
colored flowers they were, something
like a morning-glory.
By noon the sun was too warm. TIL,
beautiful blossoms shut their leaves ant
hung their heads, and before night eacl
cream -colored flower dropped off. Where
each one had been was little germ.
This little green germ grew and grew
till it was as big as an egg, when il
burst open and threw out o long
beautiful fluff of cotton several inches
long.
1t was cotton seed, of course.
Then O mana negro-came and tore
the cotton from its boil, put it into 0
basket with others like it, and carried
it to room where were hundreds OF
pounds of cotton. In the room was q
busy machine, and into that machine
the cotton was thrown.
This cotton, you must know, is full Of
seeds. Very troublesome little fellows
they are, too, for they have no idea OF
leaving their comfortable home and it's
very hard to get them out.
I'll tell you how the nadine does it.
As the cotton goes in it comes to a roller
covered with wire teeth. These teeth
seize the cotton and draw it through q
sort of grating, so fine that the seeds
can't get through, so they just stay on
the outside. -
AS the roller goes around it comes to
a brush roller, which brushes off the
cotton as nicely as any brush can do it.
Then the cotton is packed in bale and
sent to the cotton mills.
Now the cotton that came from the
little seed away off in Georgia is by this
time very dirty, and what do you sup
pose comes next ? A bath? No; what's
good for boys isn't so good for cotton.
1t gets-a beating. It is laid on sort
of network, and beaten with bundles of
twigs. The dirt falls through the net
work, and then the cotton is called
CHATTING"
But the cotton from the seed I'm tell
ing about don't stop at batting. 1t is
very fine and nice, and it goes to the
carding- machine. This machine lays
all the threads one way by drawing it
through sets Of wire teeth.
It comes out on to a roller, and is
taken off by still another roller, on which
it looks like wide Aeecy ribbon. But
it don't keep that pretty look very long.
1t is drawn through funnel, which
makes it small and much frmer. 1t
isn't fine enough yet, however, and it
goes between another set of rollers. /
wonder if there's any thing that can't be
done with rollers
When 1T comes out pressed quite
firm it is called rowing, and is ready to
be spun.
You'll hardly believe me, but the
spinning is done on mule!
It's very peculiar mule, must adj
NIT, made of wood and iron, and carry
ing twenty-five hundred spindles. So
it spins twenty two hundred threads at
once, and is wonderful machine, if it
has funny name.
1t spins the loose rowing into much
finer thread, slightly twisted. This
thread next runs through a gas fame
to burn off the little fuzz, then over a
brush to take off the ashes, and then
through a hole in brass plate just the
size of the thread.
Then it is wound in skeins, and put
up in five or ten pound bundles.
After all these travels the thread has
little rest before it starts through the
last machine-the one that makes the
soft cotton into the solid strong thread
we buy on spools to sew with.
The skeins are wound on to bobbins,
e IL.
fine threads start together.
Look on a spool, and you'll read,
"Best six-cord cotton" That means,
as said, that six of these threads are
united to make our sewing
But 1 must tell you how they go.
First over a glass rod, and through a
little trough of water; then between
rollers to press them tightly together.
Leaving the rollers, they go down,
twisting as they go, TO where a spool is
fastened. There it is regularly wound
on, firm, smooth thread, while the
spool moves slowly up and down as ii
winds, SO as to make regular layers
of it.
Now the fruit of the little cotton seed
has become beautiful spool of thread,
ready for useful life. Before it goes
out into world it is ornamented at each
end with round paper, gummed and
stuck on by some child. The last paper
is put over the end of the thread to
keep it from getting loose, and then. il
is put into packages of a dozen spools.
You have seen fine thread, perhaps
as fine as No. 200, which we use on sew.
ing-machines, but what would you say
to thread No. 600, only one third the
size of that? And how would you like
to see the cobweb thread actually woven
into lace?
At the great Exhibition in London
such fine lace was shown. And, almost
as wonderful, piece of muslin woven
of thread No. 460. 1t was so delicate
that when laid on the grass and wet il
could not be seen.
You know how large a roll of batting
is. Well, it can be stretched out to be
more than thousand miles long. That
is thread No. 2100.
1t seems too wonderful to be true
but many fictions invented by poets and
story writers are not half so wonderful
as many common things that every day
pass under our observation.
Pleased.