The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1895-09-09
SEND ALL THE BOYS.
ARP HOPES An OF THEM WILL GET
TO THF EXPOSITION.
Bill Talks of His Experience in Raising
SILK Worms-He Is Tired OF street
Car Agitation.

The exposition gets bigger and bigger.
The managers have builded wiser than
they knew and everything concerning II
seems to prosper. II viii be great show
and n great school. l wish that every
youth in this southern land who is over ten
wears of age could visit it. They would
learn more in a day, than they can learn In
a wear from books. The sight is the very
best receptive of knowledge. Inc beSl way
to study geography is to travel anu 'h0
best way 10 study art is TO see thiiss nIt-1o
by the artist or the mechanic see thd' q
philadelphia silk house will nave silh
worms there making their cocoons ana VIII
reel the silk from them and spin and weave
il into cloth AID Will sell you a crA'dt lOl
a song. -, T
I make mention OF this because when
was a lad my father carried on that sailie
business Of making silk in LaWrehceFii.v'
Ga, and for three years had 70 pich -
berry leaves in their season and feed lheih
to the greedy worms. 1 had to get uP ne
fore day and go to the morus muitlcaulIs
orchard and pick the leaves While the "t"
was on and carry them in sacks 10 lile sim
house and scatter them all over the nun
dies and the greedy worms wouid eat Ii''Ii
all up before breakfast. The big worms
that were two to two and nan iic"'S
long were kept in one row OF hurdles anu
were given the cuarser leaves, smaller o-eS
were graded dowa according to age ana t'-e
little worms, half an men IONS
to have the young ana tender leaves. " i''
the worms were fun grown ana hau u
voured till they had stuffed themselves WI"
mulberry fiber they settled down 10 busl-
ness and spun their winding sheet III '"e
shape of a cocoon. These cocoohs were
beautiful little things, about as large as Il
pecan nut and Of the same shape IheE
were of different colOrs. some We're pu'n
white, some green, some pink, some reu'
some yellow and all were bright and glossy
The worm got smaller as he Wrapper MS
web around him. and by the time the CO
coon was done it had changed its shape anu
turncd into a rhrysalis. AN ugly brown thiiS
that had neither head nor tail visible II
passed into a conIatose condition tor i-"hiis
and then came TO life again and cut us
way out Of the cocoon in the shape Of a bu'-
terfly or large fiuttering moth and crawieo
about over tne hurdles to ina some place 10
las it's eggs. These eggs soon hatched our
into little silk worms that went To eating
leaves Just like their greedy ancestors.
But We didcut wait for many TO cut thtlr
way out of the cOcoons. We put them IN
"A pot of hot water and they staid comatisa
all the rest of their lives. We would rave
perhaps hundred cocoons floating on the
top of the hot water and with tiny brush
would catch up the delicate fibers of silk
from thirty to forty cOcOons and make a
thread of all of them together, and having
fastened that thread to reel close by we
would turn the reel just like our grand
mothers used to turn 1t in winding 81 un
truck-turn it until it clicked and then take
the cut off and begin again. Just so, we
reeled the raw silk and kept putting more
cocoons I'm the hot water In this way We
reeled off every bit of the winding sheet
and left the ugly dead chrysalis floating on
the water. When they accumulated so as
to be in the way we SKINNED them out and
threw them away.
This is only an outline Of the business,
and l want the young folks to see now The
thing is done from the tiny little egg to
the raw silk upon the reel and from there
to the loom. My father was a pioneer in
the morus multicaulus craze. as it was call
ed. and / think the only man in Georgia
who made silk and sold II. ! remember
that one year he sold 5000 worth at one ship
ment and he sold some other smaller lots.
He would have continued the business
but his trees took the "die back or some
thing and he had TO give 1t up. II was
said that the continued stripping of the
leaves Will kill them In about three years,
for the leaves are the lungs Of plants and
they can't keep on making new lungs just
20 please silk worms These trees We're
grown from cuttings and We began TO strip
them the second year, when they We're
about as large as a broOm-handle. They
had no branches and were about far
apart as young apple trees in a nursery
We stripped them like pulling fodder,
coming down with both hands and leaving
only a few leaves at the top 1t would
have been good fun if it had not been
so monotonous and required 50 much or
Ben Frankin's advice about early to bed
and early to- rise" etc. / haven't gotten
over that habit yet. but It hasent made me
wealthy or wise. l never have found out
how one worm can get red silk out of
mulberry leaf and another one Will get
white or yellow.
/ heard Captain Evan Howell make
speech once and he got eloquent and
humble as he said: "AIy friends. we are
helpless and ignorant creatures We know
nothing hardly about the mysteries of ma
ture that are all around us The good book
SAYS: Great is the mystery of gOdliness
We cant tell why it Is that when a goose
eats grass the grass turns to feathers and
when a horse eats grass il turns to hair
and when a sheep eats grass 1t turns into
wool" And he might have added and
when worm eats mulberry leaves it
turns to silk
The exposition has been a great strain
upon Atlanta. but that town is smart
and gamey and will make it a grand sue
cess When the scheme was first proposed
We outsiders meyer said anything To dis
courage il, but We smiled and whispered
was there ever such cheek. Right after
the great Chicago fair and right In the
middle of financial panic for a little city
of only 100000 people to propose such an
| absurd scheme is perfectly ridiculous Ana
10 think Of the impudence of asking for
the patronage of the national government
| and an appropriation.
But the managers kept right on and
have never faltered for a moment Ana
| they got the Smithsonian Institution and
| the Liberty bell and they seriously dis
| cussed the practicability Of borrowing the