Mountain Home bulletin. (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1888-1889, 1889-05-11
TIE OLD RAG CARPET.
4 WEAVER OF BROOKLYN RECALLS
THE DAYS OF ITS GLORY.

tTIe 0NHS ~ ~ SeSnps
An Industry Which Modern Invention ani r;
Luxury Have Nearly Destroyed ed-Ths Ole "
Loom That Our GRANDMOTHER Used-Ths g
Changes Of Forty Years. =
Not long since, had pleasant interview i
with Mr. James Early an old time Brooklyn >
man and skilled rag carpet weaver. i
NO it's nothing like it used to be-" sale
Mr.. Early, pausing for time from his labor {
in order to rest and also to answer the many :
questions which curiosity prompted me to ask {
Forty years ago. when started for myself
in this basement"- {
"Whatl SO long ago as thatT' interposed {
"Law, yes, that doesn't seem SO long to me
came here just after the big fire in '4S Il
started below here where the feather store /.
now, just opposite the bridge. remember |,
well 1t was on Saturday night, Sept. II, OF
~, and when the alarm sounded | ran dowr
to see the fun. 1t spread like forty, and be
fore | got there the whole block back te
Henry street was q roaring. crashing mass Of
flames over which the then small force of fire
men had no control whatever The wind wa,
blowing up from the river and before the fire
was checked it had swept everything clean or
this side Of the street clear up to Concord |
street. They finally stopped its progress by
destroying the two corner buildings at Con |
cord street by use of explosives-razed them
to the ground-thus putting SO much space be
tween the approaching fire and the buildings
beyond that they had a chance to work and
80 got the best of the blaze"
But it was carpet weaving I. was inquiring
about" ventured.
HOW THEY USED TO DO.
"Oh, SO it was. Well, as said, forty years
ago it was one of the best trades q boy could
learn and there was good money in it. Its
different now. You want to know how the
things done, eh"
Mr.. Early was seated before frame work
about five feet high, extending back about
six feet, with huge cylinder in under for the
cord. Before him was swinging wire screen,
called a sley, which by means of quick jerk
with the arm forces the rags into position
after they have been placed between the rows
Of cord which he now explained the use Of.
Swung over a shaft, in the center of the frame
back of the sley, was twne screen of per-
haps fifty or sixty strands, and in each strand,
between the shaft and the floor, was inserted
u small copper eye Each side Of this screen
connected with a separate pedal near the
floor, and thus as first one pedal was pressed
one row of eyes would be raised, the other
lowered and as this was released and the
other one pressed the two rows of eyes would
exchange positions This was bis machine,
devoid of material
"Now, you see," said Mr.. Early, "the twine
is first put on that cylinder behind there, just
below that stationary BEAM That beam,
you see is on a level with tho two rows of
copper eyes hung in the center, and also du-
plicated on this side of the frame. Well, the
} twne is separated into two screens of as many
strands each as there are eyes in the swinging
screen, and being passed over the beam on
that side is stretched directly across to this
beam, each of the two horizontal screens
, passing through different row of tho swing
; ing eyes, and from here it is passed to the
cloth cylinder by my feet, where the carpet
comes forth completed. Now, as each row OF
eyes has a different screen of twine passing
through it, and as | can reverse the position
of the eyes by pressure Of the foot, this mus
necessarily cross and recross the strands regu
larly as work the pedals alternately. See
Well, take this shuttle and pass the rag mar
row strips OF cloth joined together into a con-
tinuous string, through between the horizon
\ tai screens. Then jerk back this sley, which
: has a wire passing between each strand, which
5 forces the rag firmly into place. This done,
press the pedal crossing the strands back as fal
i. rs the rag. and then return the rag between
e the screens to the side it started from. con
c tinue changing the rag from side to side. eacl
Il time crossing the strands and keeping the edg
!. even and firm by means of the wire sley an,
thus you see, each strand passes first over thel
g under the alternate rows of rags, Throughout
!. the entire length of carpet. The stripes ar
;, effected by alternating balls of light coloret
rags with those of darker and brighter shades
:, The twine cylinder holds 100 yards of cor,
and makes nearly as many yards Of carpet. "
u "But what do you do when the twins run
Il outp'
II never allow It to run out As the end
come into sight | insert fresh cylinder o
twine and tie each strand of the old lot t
tho ends Of the new strands and thus make
y an endless roll"
q ONE HUNDRED YEARS IN SERVICE
a 'sThis frame looks very substantial D
! they wear out quicklyf
y "Well, not SO very. ! bought this secon
handed when l started to work forty-fou
years ago, and reckon it's been in use mig
~ onto a hundred years and you can see 1t hasn
= started to wear out yet"
!. what Is an average days work-ho,
q many yardsf'
N "Ten yards is as good as want to do now
n though when was younger could turn ou
v Twelve or fourteen | used to get from fort
n to City cents per yard for my work, but no,
l. twenty eight cents is all charge for my bes
s. srado and haven't any too much to do eve
lie at that low price improvements in machir
* cry have brought down the prices of ingram
40 and brusEels to such low figure that mos
y. folks have gone back on the good old fasl
ar ioned rag carpet which was SO popular In m
=. time, and there's barely living to he squeeze
:. out Of It now. The old fellows who laid til
solid foundation have to stand back an
80 watch you young ones with your modern In
GO pr1vements building higher and higher th
u monument Of improvement over the remain
u Of tho rough but substantial modes OF manl
or facture which served our purposes SO well
n IN ttn