Evening star., 1898-10-29
THE ART OF SPINNING.
In Households Long Ago 1t Was m
Important AccOmplis

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| From the New York Trit une.
Among the more important of the early
industries was the honorable and queenly
are of spinning" The industry was first
introduced in this country by the Dutch
and English and afterward by the Irish.
Spinning matches were organized by the
young women and the products of their
wheels bestowed upon their pastor, at whose
house they spun. The implements for spin
ming flax and reeling thread were of the
most primitive description. The earliest
used was the distaff and spindle, but an i'm
provement on this method was the hand
wheel. Later the treadle was attached to
the wheel, enabling the spinner to sit while
at work. and from this spinning wheel have
been evolved the spinning jenny and the
most of mechanical inventions that fill the
factories of today.
The first of the many processes by which
the flax was converted into the finest of
linens was the culture of the plant 1t was
of rapid growth, sown in April or May and
was harvested in August. 1t was carefully
soWn and when four or five inches high
thoroughly examined and often weeded by
the women and children, who worked with
out shoes for fear of injuring the delicate
. plant. They labored facing the wind. that
the breeze might favor the downtrodden
plant and help it to rise again" When ripe
1t was pulled up by the roots and "rippled"
to remove the capsules containing the
seeds. The 'rippler" was a large comb fas-
tened on plank.
When the flax was dry the rotting or
dew-rotting process was used to destroy
the glue. 1t was placed on the grass or in
the waters of a clear brook; afterward it
was broken" and "skutched" to remove
the bark and stalks. The next and last
process was hacking or "heckling." This
Strengthened the flax, freed it from tangles
and brought it by frequent 'hacklings' to
the requisite fineness. This was done by a
primitive machine called ''hackLe'' or
'heckle," and was the work of the women
of the household.
The rippler, breaker and scutcher were
cumbersome and heavy, and were used by
men in barns and outhouses. These latter
instruments have almost entirely disap-
peared. but the hackle is still found in an
cient garrets, accompanied by spinning
wheels and reels. The hackle is an immense
comb, with long iron teeth placed perpen-
dicularly on rough board.
The fineness of the flax depends upon the
number OF hacklings it receives by combs
of increasing delicacy of make. The opera
ton Of hacking required much skill AMI
dextrous handling, and upon it depended
to a great extent the value of the result.
In the hands of a poor hacker the best of
fax would be converted entirely into tow.
After the flax was hacked it was careful
ly sorted according to degrees of finenesS.
This process was spreading and drawing"
After twenty or more manipulationS the
fiber was ready for the wheel and wrapped
in a soft ball about the spindle, and the
graceful spinr er turned the flax fiber into
long, even thread.
While spinning the threads were moisten-
ed with water from little bone cup that
hung on the wheel, and the flax was
twisted into thread by the movement of
the wheel and the deft handling of the spin
ner the yarn as it was formed was wound
on the bobbin, which was a roughly form
ed wooden spool. Afterward the bobbins
We're placed on the reels for the thread to
be wound into skeins. The threads for
Init +irty with
ming across the skein to hold the strands
in place.
On the more primitive reels the strands
had to be counted before the threads We're
placed on them, but a later invention was
the clock reel a simple mechanism that
clicked when the requisite number of
strands were wound on the reel, and the
busy housewife, instead of counting each
thread, would stop turning the wheel and
put the cross-thread when the clock
reel clicked.
The skeins were then transferred from
the wheel to the swift and wound into
balls for knitting. The hanks of yarn
needed twisting back and forth many times
to take the wiry feeling out of the thread.
Where linen was to be woven the bobbins
filled with fine thread were taken from the
wheel and placed on the wooden hand loom.
Before the blue and white checked coun-
terpanes of our grandmotherS We're woven
the yarn was bleached to dazzling white
ness and part dyed. The yarn to be bleach
ed was dipped IN strong S0apSuQS or but
termilk and laid upon the grass This had
to be repeated many times before the
thread was white. The yarn to be dyed
blue was dipped in big stone pots of indigo,
always a part of the colonial household
equipment. The preparation of dyes was
one of the household Industries. The house
mother was skilled in coloring, and as a
great many shades could be obtained from
one color single dip of the flax in the
blue pot would transform the skein into a
tint like the sky. A days submersion gave
a deep blue, and a weeks repose at the
bottom of the pot made the flax as blue as
the indigo itself. Flax was not easily dyed.
There were but two stains that Were effica-
cious in coloring it-blue, from indigo and
red. from oxide of iron.
The hand looms in colonial houses for
weaving fax and wool were of the most
simple and clumsy construction. They are
seldom found in their old haunts, though
the weaving room usually attached to the
kitchen, is sometimes seen, bearing the old
name with new uses. The linen when taken
from the loom was brown in color, reauir-
Ing the long, tedious process of bleaching
to bring it to its final exquisite whiteness
This process was called "crofting," an En-
glish term, from croft. field. 1t was some
times called grassing
The skillful housewife first boiled the lin
en- In siaked lime, and then in an alkaline
lye for eight hours at time and then laid
1T on the grass for few days. The boiling
and grassing were repeated often and then
the linen was soaked in buttermilk boiled
and grassed again, to destroy the acids of
the buttermilk, which whitened the linen,
but were injurious to the fiber.
There were no less than fifty operations
for bleaching a parcel of light linens" "
From the time the flax was sown until the
linen was ready to fashion into garments
fifteen or sixteen months had passed, and
the max had undergone more than a hun
dred different manipulate The linen
was made into fine embroidery and lace
trimmed caps, capes. aprons, short gowns
underwear and gloves. also sheets, pillow
cases and board cloathes,'' or tablecloths
The valuable outfit freely sprinkled
with lavender and rosemary and laid away
IN the carved oaken chest. often making
wedding and household outfits. lasting from
generation to generation, and happy and
proud today is the possessor of some of
grandmothers "homespun"