Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-12-18
OLD SPINNING WHEELS.
QUA GRANDMOTHERS METHOD or
PREPARING WOOL FOR LOOMS.
Minute Description of the Little Old No
chine Which Has Been an Inspiration
to Poets and Composers-''Things Amt
jest rs They Used to Be-"

|
jest rs They Used to Be-"
Spinning-that is. home spinning-has
just as much gone out of fashion in the
New England and eastern states as sui
phur matches, and for just the same
reason-there is no need of either now
that something better has taken their
place. There are, however. plenty of
good wives who once on time were
learned practitioners in the domestic
arts Of spinning and dyeing, and it is
from the lips of one of these that gath
eied the following information. which I
should imagine would be of interest to
| your western hearers:
1.-The first thing. you see," said this
good lady, ''is to pick the wool No,
faint either" she said, interrupting her.
self; 'the first thing is to wash and shear
the sheep, but as that's done now just as
it always was, don't need tell you any
thing about it. When the wool was
sheared and washed we used to take it
and pull it all apart, getting out all the
tangles and burrs and dirt that was left.
When it was all picked it had to be
| CREASED, and to do this we put plate
with lard on it in front of US and heap
of the picked wool to the left side. We
then rubbed bit of lard on both palms.
| took up tieck of wool and worked it
between our hands until every bit was
| creased. When there was enough wool
! creased the old man or one Of the farm
hands would take it right away to the
carding mills"
l. 49, = Al
carders it was in bundles about two feet
long, and made up number of tight
pressed rolls the size of my little finger,
each roll jest the length of the bundle.
When we want to use the wool we'd
take the bundle, give it a shake, pick out
roll and then begin spinning l don't
know as ever you've seen wheel, but eff
you amt theirs mine in the setting room,
and p'raps | can best explain how we
worked it eff you'll come in there"
A stout wooden horse with a sloping
body formed the base of the machine.
AT either end was inserted an upright,
the one at the higher end stationary and
supporting the wheel; that at the lower
end movable ana holding the "head."
the vacant space between the two being
used to hold the rolls just spoken Of. The
wheel was fully four feet in diameter,
of oak, with rounded spokes springing
from a solid hub, and Joining a Tyre
two inches wide, in which was sunk
a groove to receive the driving band.
This stout cord - passed round q
sharply grooved barrel in the ''head"
of two inches in diameter, ard
gave to it, of course, an exceed
ingly rapid revolution, which was still
further added to by second grooved
wheel of four inches in diameter set on
the same axis as the barrel driven by the
main wheel. The band over the second
wheel encircled still smaller one from
which the spindle sprang The spindle
was of iron, three inches long and with
a half thread at the end: the bearings
were of plated corn husks. and the
whole was attached to a tapering wooden
peg fitting into a socket drilled into the
second or movable upright. BY a wooden
screen at its base the upright was worked
back to give the driving band its proper
tension. 1t will be easily understood,
trust. that single turn of the big wheel
would set the spindle revolving at such
rate that it would actually hum, and it
was to the humming of such wheels that |
the old housewives of lang syne spun the
thread from which stockings, carpets. |
made by their tireless hands.
''Le1iiine see,' said my delightful old /
informant, "if can't find speck Of wool
somewhere SO as can show you jest how |
we worked" Then she went out on the !
search and soon came back with what
she called ''fleck"
faint good WOOL" she said, "bus
guess twill do"
Setting the wheel in motion with
light touch of her right hand. she held |
the end OF the wool to the spindle with
the left. 1t caught at once, and walking
quickly backward and slightly from the
wheel, but always keeping within it's
easy reach, a twisted thread seemed to
grow out from between her practiced
finger and thumb, even throughout and
fine enough, II not to sew at least to darn
with. When the thread grew long the
spinner rapidly advanced toward the
spindle, carrying her hand near the
wheel, a motion that instantly wound up
the thread around 1.-THE spindle. So
the operation was repeated, until in
very few minutes the wool was ex-
hausted.
MY fingers amt quite what they
used to be" said the old lady, but as
sured her-as was the fact-that had
never seen any one spin a better thread.
The oldy lady smiled and went on:
When this spindle is full, you see, it
has to be wound off. and that is done on
the reel over yonder."
The reel thus pointed out was a simple
of two cross pieces of wood
set 50 as to make four revolving arms,
and furnished at every end with long
peg.
The reel" said my informant, sis
placed beside the spinning wheel jest
under the spendle here, the band is
thrown off, and by turning the reel the
thread is wound off from the spendle.
From the reel it was made up into skeins
and laid away for use. We've still got
the old loom out in the carriage house
that my mother used to weave on, and
got SO far on with it as to be able to lay
out blanket Then the mills were built
at the falls and the loom was laid away.
We still used the wheel, however, for
spinning thread for knitting with, and
fust rate thread it was, too. Cor. San
Francisco Chronicle.