The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1921-02-08
INTERESTING STORY
: Of SILK DISCOVERY
A woman discovered silk.

n WOildH uioCOftfcu oith
And the secret was kept for many
centuries.
Finally p woman told the secret
and its culture and manufacture to a
man, and silk became a household
wordrin all parts of the world.
Walking one sunny Summer morn
ing in quaint Chinese garden where
the high enveloping walls were all but
hidden by riotous growth OF exotic
flowers and the air heavily perfumed
with their fragrance. slim girl Of IA
battered along slowly with tightly
bound feet to an inviting teak wood
pagoda by the side of miniature
lake.
There she rested. AS she idly watch
ed a nest of insects and worms she
parently slept lazily in the sun,
trio of caterpillars were ceaselessly
busy feasting on the leaves of white
mulberry tree.
Their capacity and their energy
fascinated her and the next day and
for many succeeding days she watch
ed them eat and grow rapidly.
She had ample time for she was the
Empress Si-ling-chi, wife of the En-
peror Huang-u. who ruled China 2640
b. C. She is known to-day as the Cod
dess of the Silk Worm." and through
out China on an appointed day the
rich and poor alike pay picturesque
tribute to her.
One day she noticed that. as their
heads moved from side to side, semi
fluid gummy substance issued from
their mouths and soon turned into a
soft, downy thread. Soon cocoons were
formed and she carried one to the
emperor. He was not interested.
The lonely little empress. surround
ed by a small army of servitors, but
without a playmate. although merely
a child, carried the cocoon back to
the garden. 1t piqued her curiosity.
II was about the size of large pea
nut, but slightly thicker and substan-
TALLY hard. From 1t floated many soft
threads. She pulled one and found
that although 1t was SO light that 1t
would float in the air. it was still so
strong that she could pull off quite a
length. The hardness of the cocoon
bothered her and finally she hit upon
the idea of soaking one in warm wa
ter. The result was that she was bet
ter able to extract the thread. She
wound 1t on her fingers in one con-
tinous thread nearly 1000 feet long.
1t was yellow.
Si-ling-chi had remarkable initia-
tive and had she lived In these times
undoubtedly have been leader in
some one or more of the advanced
movements that have placed women
at least closer to their proper place
in the worlds activities. Not content
with her interesting discovery she set
about to find some way i'm which to
utilize the beautiful silken threads.
After weeks of study and experiments
she ordered the ladies of her court to
gather in the garden. There she
demonstrated her crude methods at
gathering and Keeling the silk and set
them all to work learning to help
her. Soon she taught them to weave
garments and to embroider. II was
not long before the emperor, who was
shown so little interest in her silk
worms, was presented by the en-
press with a ceremonial garment OF
purest silk, and only a short time
later all members of the court were
wearing silken clothes of dazzlias
beauty.
The production of raw silk quickly
became the chef industry of China
and the nation grew rich beyond the
understanding of neighboring coun-
tries which sought vainly for the Sc
ret of silk. China had the secret and
monopoly of export to all parts of
Asia, India, Persia and Arabia for
many centuries. The death penalty
was decreed for the crime of sending
or taking the silk worms, it's eggs or
the seed OF the white mulberry tree
out of China.
All went well with the Chinese silk
industry until about $50 B. C. when
Q prince Of India visited China and