The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-06-08
sPiNNEaS OF CHICAGO.
Many German Women stiii Ustug Old.
Fashioned Wheels.

"uees.
The people who would fain relegate
the spinning wheel to the days of their
grandmothers will no doubt be startled
to learn that the good old-fashioned.
simple art of spinning is now being
practiced right here in Chicago. 1t is
not being done just for fun or for the
sake of showing young people how
yarn used to be made, but instead the
spinning Is In dead earnest and BUSH
ness from start to finish. Many pounds
of woclen yarn are spun In Chicago
every year, and with the assistance Of
the knitting needle the yarn is turned
into heavy winter socks by the score.
1t Is said that quite a number of Ger
man m born In the fatheriand,
bring with them to his country the
custom which they learned in their ma
tive land. Often they also bring with
them the spinning wheels. but this is
not necessary. as plenty of good. serv-
iceable wheels car be purchased here
in Chicago.
A few days ago a representative of
he Sunday Chronicle saw "A demon
stratlon OF the primitive art at the
home of Charles Gumtow. zoos West
18th street. Mrs. Gumtow. who is
some years on the sunny side of mid
die age. sat at the wheel and turned
raw wool into strands of yarn with as
great ease and rapidity as IL could ever
have been done by her grandmother.
The wheel which Gumtow used was
purchased in Chicago within the last
few years, and the one which the spin
ner brought with her from Germany
reposes I'm the darkness of a closet out
of Difference TO the superior qualities
of the more modern machine.
Mrs. Gumtow brought out a large
roll OF raw wool. which was In about
the same condition as IL was when II
was sheared from the back OF the
sheep. She pulled apart the hairs I'M
til the mass hung together quite loose
ly. Then she picked up the end Of the
thread of the yarn, already spun on
the wheel. and with a twist of her
fingers wound 1t into the loose wool.
The wheel was started with n whir
and instantly the wool, deftly handled
and paid out In tiny strand, slipped
through the fingers of the spinner and
became yarn on the spool OF the spin
ming wheel.
1t looked so easy TO spin the wool
into yarn that Mrs. Gumtow's inter-
ested spectator asked for an opportu-
nifty to find out II he had any natural
aptitude or rudimentary talent for
spinning. Taking his place at the
machine, he gave the wheel a whirl.
and in an instant he found the wool
going through his fingers in a roll as
big around as a small rope instead of
the size of a tiny string. The unneces-
sary information was then ELECTED
from Mrs. Gumtow that spinning could
not be learned at one sitting. Mrs.
Gumtow has been spinning for about
eight years. and is now capable of
spinning about a third of a pound In
a day. She knits her husbands winter
socks from all of the yarn she spins.
The spinner was sure there was moth
ing very remarkable about her use of
the spinning wheel in these days. for
she said there are a number of Ger
man women in Chicago who do the
same thing, who have been doing II
for years and who will probably on
tinue to do IL for many more years to
come.-Chicago Chronicle.