The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-04
WOMEN WHO WASH SILK.
IL Requires Lifetime to Learn the
Business.

IL Requires Lifetime to Learn The
Business.
The most important laundry workers in
the world are the women employed in the
! silk conditioning houses. They wash, boil
bleach. rinse and dry. just as the women
who work in the most ordinary laundries,
but. instead Of ironing they weigh and
/ reweigh their pieces" with the most mi
| mute exactness. and the values compre-
1 hended in each separate operation amount
10 thousands Of dollars.
| The doer-up OF linen dimity. and cot
ton pieces" may become an expert in her
line after a couple Of years practice and
no particular education. but it takes the
silk ''boiler-ofT' treble that time to at
tain mastery OF her profession. The con-
] ditioners deal only with the raw silk as it
comes from the cocoon, a flmy. deceptive
/ substance TO work with
How long did # take me to learn this
/ business" said a woman assayer as she
| stirred her bubbling bags. a lifetime
| It's thirteen years since 1 started in bust
ness. and I've been conditioning all that
/ time.
Il took up SILK conditioning because it
! pays better than stenogranhy. and | had
/ the right feel Of the fingers" said another
I uolttA -til NO matter now lhlelllStIl j
| girl is. if the silk sticks to her fingers
| she's a failure but l found out quite acct
/ dentally, after I had settled on being sec
rotary, that I was a born silkworker.
! Women having the right knack with silk
| can always make good money. and the silk
industry is one line OF work in which
women are absolutely Indispensable For
instance only women are employed in the
warproom Of any silk mandatory. and this
preparing Of the lengthwise thread for the
I loom is most important and a depart
ment enabling the industrious worker to
make S25 a week. Men are excellent weav-
ers, good foremen and weighers but when
it comes TO direct handling Of the raw
iilaments they yield the palm. You may
have seen very smart intelligent people
try TO make the slip knot in tatting and
fail. and some such inexplicabe sleight-of
hand is requisite for the worker in raw
silk.
Now. in silk conditioning. or assaying, |
not only this proper feel of the fingers is
needed. but the proper judgment and nicely |
Of calculation. II I let my drying silk |
scorch. for instance, or If l don't boil the |
gum out OF it thoroughly, and if | err even |
so much as a deneir or q gram in comput- |
ing my weights. there's peck of trouble. |
The value of the whole bale Of silk is reck |
oned from the conditioned sample chat |
sample composed Of three parts drawn at |
random from the bale). and the raw silk |
that travels all the way from India, China, |
or Japan is worth something"
A professor who never graduated from
any college is in charge of the raw silk |
conditioning where the women work-a man ]
who knows every sort of adulterant or
cheatery ever practieed by silkgrowers |
since time was, and to whom manufac- |
nd f~ar, Wit
perplexities. But this director leaves the |
actual work Of discovering these admix- |
lures TO his Heutenants, fully assured of /
their reliability. Before the hanks of yell |
low and white raw silk are pumped into 1
the boilers to be boiled of" they are sub
jected TO the desiccating apparatus to de-
termine the exact percentage OF moisture /
absorbed by the silk since the worms
spun it. silk, like all textile fbres. con-
tains certain degree of moisture, but a
bale OF silk is capable of holding from Is
to 25 per cent of water without showing
sign of II.
The Oriental silk farmers always start
to reel their silk from the coCoons in the
beginning Of the rainy season. The i'm
porters and manufacturers do not relish |
paying for water at raw silk rates, |
hence the conditioning houses. After the
moisture has been thoroughly expressed
from the hanks OF SIR they are put into
little white bags and boiled twice in a
bath OF boiling soap suds. rinsed, dried by
hot air again. and then put through the I
other tests. The scene is quite domestic
as the women manipulate the dozens of
samples weighing them with the accuracy
that apothecaries use in weighing out criti-
cal drugs aud managing every operation
with extreme neatness because Of the cost
~ nature OF the goods.
The cocoons are put in water preparatory |
10 Keeling the silk of. A brush something
like whisk, OF a sink broom. is used to
catch the end OF the thread for the reeiing.
This Keeling is ordinarily done in the
household Of the silk farmer. and anything |
gummy that he can put in the water for
the cocoons to soak up means that much
gain for his pocket and that much damage
to the purity Of the silk. Rice water is ad-
mirable for this purpose. that being cheap q,
in Japan and easy TO get at. Dissolved tin
is a good thing also, and there are tin
mines in plenty ia the mountain districts | [
Of China; soap. sugar. any kind Of grease
or oily vegetable matter will answer. and | Z
The Orientals are yersed in variety Of ex-