The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1921-01-29
-n.r discovered silk.

A woman SIN.
IA the secret was kept for man!
centuries.
r,,.,Iv a woman told the secre
,ts culture and manufacture to
-, and silk became a household
I'D in all parts of the world.
walking one sunny Summer morn
quaint Chinese garden wher'
:. h,sh enveloping walls were al
:, hidden by a riotous growth of ex
"a. sowers and the air heavily per
,nmsd with their fragrance. a slim
-, of IA battered along slowly with
s-s,,v hound feet to an inviting teal
-ood pagoda by the side of Q NINA
ture lake.
There she rested. AS she idly
-.,.had a nest of insects and worms
=. noticed that while many of them
.nnarently slept lazily in the sun, a
40 Of caterpillars were ceaselessly
husy feasting on the leaves of a white
Mulberry tree.
Their capacity and their energy
,.scinated her and the next day and
,or many succeeding days she watch
"A them eat and grow rapidly.
She had ample time for she was the
rmpress Si-ling-chi. wife of the EN-
,sror Huang-ti. who ruled China
ssl0 B. C. She is known to-day as
the Goddess of the Silk Worm" and
| throughout China on an appointed
day the rich and poor alike pay pic
turesque tribute to her.
One day she noticed that, as their
heads moved from side to side, a
semi-iuid gummy substance issued
from their mouths and soon turned
into a soft. downy thread. Soon Co
eoous we're formed and she carried
one to the emperor. He was not In
terested.
The lonely little empress. surround
Cd 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.
It was about the size Of a large pea
nut, but slightly thicker and substan-
TALLY hard. From IL fioated many
soft threads. She pulled one and
found that although II was SO light
that It would float in the air, 1t was
sull SO strong that she could pull OF
quite a length. The hardness of the
cocoon bothered her and finally she
hit upon the idea OF soaking n in
warm water. The result was that she
was better able to extract the thread.
She wound 1t on her fingers in one
continuous thread nearly 2000 feet
long. 1t was yellow.
Si-ling-chi had remarkable initia-
tive and had she lived in these times
and in the United States she would
undoubtedly have been a leader in
some one or lore 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 In which to
utilize the beautiful sikken 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 OF
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. 1t was
not long before the emperor. who had
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 we're
wearing silken clothes of dazzling
The production OF raw silk quickly
the chief industry of China
and the nation grew rich beyond the
understanding of neighboring coun-
which sought vainly for the Sc
cret 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