iVIsTlD 
 
 EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING CO 
 
/ 9 ^, -. - 
 
f>>*, f . 
 
 WARP AND WOOK 
 
 THE STORY OF 
 
 THE TEXTILE ARTS 
 
 BY 
 
 EDTTH VP:RV, B. S. 
 
 DIRECTOR OF THE ALB \\V SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS 
 
 I 
 
 THE LINEN INDUSTRY 
 
 EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 New York Chicago San Francisco 
 
Copyright, 191 2 
 
 BY 
 
 EDLXATIOXAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
I -t« b3 
 
 CONTEXTS 
 
 I Historical Notes 
 
 Eg}pt , . 5 
 
 Palestine , 8 
 
 Phoenicia q 
 
 Greece ii 
 
 Rome ......... 14 
 
 England . jr 
 
 United States 16 
 
 II The Flax Plant 
 
 Botanical Name, Species, etc. , . . . in 
 
 The Spinning Wheel 20 
 
 Fairy Tale 3^ 
 
 Weaving ^6 
 
 Looms ••••.... 30 
 
 The Weaver (Poem) 42 
 
 III Processes of Manufacture 
 
 Development of Machine Processes, etc. . . 43 
 
 The Factory ^r 
 
 Bleaching eg 
 
 IV Fl.\v Culture and Linen Manufacture in the 
 
 United States 
 
 Efforts in Colonial Times, etc 6^ 
 
 Flax Seed 6-' 
 
 Flax (A Fairy Tale; ^2 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 
 NCSU Libraries 
 
 littp://www.arcliive.org/details/warpwoofstoryoftOOvery 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 It has been a pleasure to bring together for comparison 
 the primitive methods used in preparing materials for 
 clothing and the modern methods found in the factories; 
 also to search for the historical significance and progress 
 of the knowledge of the art. For encircling this primitive 
 art may be found many stories of fancy that make what 
 otherwise might seem to be a tedious process one of great 
 pleasure. These stories enliven the interest in the methods 
 and almost create a desire for ability in the craft itself. 
 The knowledge of a craft has a social significance which is 
 recognized in educational circles as important for the 
 adult as for the child. Not only is this recognized in the 
 manual training, but also in the new, so-called, household 
 arts. If the text brings to the student or reader an eager- 
 ness to share a larger interest in the historical value of 
 the knowledge of the craft or a personal desire to have 
 a share in the production of the material as a craft, this 
 little volume will bear a true message from 
 
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THE LINEN INDUSTRY 
 
 HISTORICAL NOTES 
 Egypt 
 
 Linen is one of the most interesting of textile 
 fabrics because its history can be traced four 
 thousand years, and because the flax fibre, 
 from which linen is made, undergoes many and 
 varied processes in the manufacture of the white 
 and glistening material, honored by all men 
 and nations. 
 
 In tracing its history, the monuments on the 
 banks of the Nile, and scriptural records, yield 
 the most authentic accounts of its early use 
 and manufacture. 
 
 Egypt was famous for her beautiful products 
 of fine linens; at one time the chief and most 
 profitable article of commerce. Reproductions 
 of the drawings in the tombs of Beni-Hassan, 
 
6 The Linen Industry 
 
 show the processes, from the sowing of the 
 seed to ' the finished niece of cloth. (" The 
 Ancient Egyptians," J. Gardner Wilkinson, 
 Chapter IX.) One of the most interesting 
 instances of the use of linens is found in the 
 wrappings of the mummies, large quantities 
 being used in embalming men and animals; 
 varying from the coarsest texture, like sail 
 cloth, to the finest quality, which requires a 
 microscope to discern the flax fibre. Fine 
 examples are seen in the museums, which 
 testify not only to the quality, but to the beau- 
 tiful color designs woven in as borders. The 
 mummy cloths vary from a few inches to one 
 yard in width, and sometimes measure three 
 hundred yards in length. These bandages also 
 varied in fineness, according to the wealth of 
 the deceased. 
 
 White linen was used exclusively for garments 
 of the priesthood and royal personages; the 
 colored costumes, represented on the wall paint- 
 ings, show elaborate designs in embroidery. 
 The common people wore gowns of indigo 
 colored linen. 
 
 Herodotus describes a corselet presented by 
 Amasis, King of Egypt, to the Lacedaemonians: 
 "It was of Linen, ornamented with numer- 
 ous figures of animals, worked in gold and 
 
The Linen Industry 7 
 
 cotton. Each thread of the corselet was worthy 
 of admiration; for though very fine, every 
 one was composed of three hundred and sixty 
 other threads, all distinct, the quality being 
 similar to that dedicated to Minerva, at Lindus, 
 by the same monarch." (Herodotus ii., 182, 
 
 Pliny describes Egyptian fish-nets — "Some 
 of them were so delicate that they would pass 
 through a man's ring, and a single person 
 could carry a sufficient number of them to 
 surround a whole wood. Julius Lupus, who 
 died while Governor of Egypt, had some of 
 these nets, each string consisting of one hundred 
 and fifty threads." Portions of this kind of 
 net have been discovered at Thebes. (Pliny 
 
 xix., I.) 
 
 The sail cloths made in Egypt were prized 
 by the Tyrians; they were frequently adorned 
 with painted or embroidered devices. "The 
 ship in which Anthony and Cleopatra went 
 to the battle of Actium was distinguished from 
 the rest, of the fleet by its purple sails, which 
 were the peculiar privilege of the admiral's 
 fleet. The sails of the large ship of Ptolemy 
 Philopator, mentioned by Atticus, were also 
 of fine linen, ornamented with a purple bor- 
 der." 
 
8 The Linen Industry 
 
 Palestine 
 
 Sacred History, the Bible, gives the earliest 
 written records of the use of linen. The first 
 mention of linen is in Genesis, at the time 
 Pharaoh exalted Joseph to a high position in 
 the kingdom. He "arrayed him in vestures 
 of fine linen" (Genesis xli., 42) — a great dis- 
 tinction, permitted only to members of royal 
 families, priests, or people holding oflftcial posi- 
 tions. Linen was used for the curtains of the 
 Tabernacle (Exodus xxvi., 31), the priests' 
 bonnets, their garments (Exodus xxviii., 42), 
 vestments, lampwicks; and the "women that 
 were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, 
 and brought that which they had spun, b(nh of 
 blue and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine 
 linen," as an offering to the Lord. (Exodus 
 xxxvi., 8.) Little "Samuel ministered before 
 the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen 
 ephod." (L Samuel ii., 18.) "And Solomon 
 had horses brought out of Egypt and linen 
 yarns; the king's merchants received the linen 
 yarn at a price." (L Kings x., 28.) 
 
 Flax is mentioned at the time of the plagues 
 — the plague of hail — "the flax and the barley 
 were smitten, for the barley was in the ear, 
 and the flax boiled." (Exodus ix., ji.) The 
 
The Linen Industry 9 
 
 spies sent out by Joshua to view the land of 
 Jericho, were hid by Rahab: "She had brought 
 them up to the roof of her house, and hid them 
 with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order 
 upon the roof of her house." (Joshua ii., 6.) 
 It is said of Samson, when bound with new 
 cords to be delivered to the Philistines, "the 
 cords that were upon his arms became as flax 
 that was burnt with fire." (Judges xv., 14.) 
 In Proverbs, the virtuous woman "seeketh wool 
 and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands." 
 (Proverbs xxxi., 13.) In other references, linen 
 is used as a symbol of purity on earth, and of 
 glory in heaven; it has also been used as a 
 symbol of firmness, because difficult to tear; 
 of incorruption, and of clearest splendor — be- 
 cause whiter when cleansed. 
 
 References 
 
 Isaiah, xix., 9; xlii.,3; Leviticus, xix., 19; Deuteronomy, 
 xxii., 11; Matthew, xxvii., 59; Revelation, xix., 8-14; 
 XV., 6. 
 
 Phoenicia 
 
 The maritime relations of Phoenicia with all 
 countries along the Mediterranean Sea made 
 her towns. Tyre and Sidon, of great commer- 
 cial importance; to such an extent that her 
 
lo The Linen Industry 
 
 traders were called "merchant princes." The 
 Pha^nicians, for many years, imported Egyptian 
 linens for clothing and sail cloths; but they 
 were especially noted for the crimson colored 
 linens, called purple. "When the beautiful 
 purple of Tyre was first discovered the sovereign 
 to whom it was presented appropriated it as 
 a royal distinction, hence to assume the purple 
 became significant with being chosen king. 
 Homer mentions that purple was only worn by 
 princes." The purple dye was obtained from 
 two shell-fish, from a sack in the back of the 
 neck, which held a white garlic-like fluid that 
 was extracted while the fish was alive. When 
 the material was dipped in this extract and ex- 
 posed to the light, it turned first green, then 
 blue, then red, and finally a deep purple; after 
 washing in soap it became a permanent crim- 
 son color, called royal purple. 
 
 An interesting myth describes the manner of 
 the discovery of the dye. Heracles, an ancient 
 god, started with his dog for a walk along the 
 shore, to visit a beautiful maiden. Tyros. While 
 walking, quite absorbed in the anticipations of 
 meeting his lady love, he forgot his dog, who 
 not having food of love for consolation, appeased 
 his appetite by eating a shell-fish, sunning on 
 a stone. When Heracles' visit with Tyros 
 
The TJnen Industry li 
 
 was nearly ended, and he asked the privilege 
 of returning, Tyros suddenly discovered that 
 the dog's mouth was a beautiful purple color, 
 hitherto unknown. With a spirit of possession, 
 she replied to her lover that she would not see 
 him again until he could bring her a robe of 
 the same beautiful color as the mouth of the 
 dog. Heracles, although not noted for an in- 
 ventive mind, after considerable research dis- 
 covered the fish and was again reinstated in the 
 favor of Tyros. 
 
 Greece 
 
 Linen was one of the chief imports of Greece 
 from Egypt and Phoenicia. To Pliny and 
 Pausanias we are indebted for the knowledge 
 that flax was grown in Greece in ancient times. 
 Doubtless the same spirit which produced the 
 classic art and literature of Greece — that of 
 original and artistic perfection — produced the 
 costly materials of exquisite workmanship, often 
 mentioned in classic literature. The charm- 
 ing style of linen garments, worn by Grecian 
 women, were frequently depicted on the monu- 
 ments; these sculptured pictures portray ample 
 folds, and flowing garments, which added grace 
 of line and dignity to the figure. 
 
12 The Linen Industry 
 
 Homer describes not only the exquisite texture 
 of the linen materials, but suggests that the art 
 of weaving, the greatest of household accom- 
 plishments, is a fit task for the goddesses. *' Now 
 Iris went with a message to White-armed Helen, 
 in the likeness of her husband's sister —and in 
 the hall she found Helen weaving a great purple 
 web of double fold, and embroidering thereon 
 manv battles of horse-taming Trojans and 
 mail-clad Achaians, that had endured for her 
 sake, at the hands of Ares." (Iliad, Book III., 
 1. 122.) "Forthwith she veiled her face in 
 shining linen." In the battle of Tydides and 
 Aphrodite, he wounds her "straight through 
 the ambrosial raiment that the Graces them- 
 selves had woven her." (Iliad, Book V., 11. 315- 
 347.) "And Athena, daughter of aegis-bearing 
 Zeus, cast down at her father's threshold her 
 woven vesture many colored, that herself had 
 wrought and her hands had fashioned." (Iliad, 
 Book v., 11. 733-736.) "And Patrocles bade 
 his fellows and handmaidens spread with all 
 speed a thick couch for Phoenix; and they 
 obeyed and spread a couch as he ordained, 
 fleeces and rugs and fine flock of linen." (Iliad, 
 Book IX., 1. 660.) Carpets of purple cover 
 the divans at the reception of Odysseus by 
 Achilles. (Iliad, Book IX., 1. 200.) The Grecian 
 
The Linen Industry 13 
 
 women were the first, it is claimed, to use a 
 small square of linen for a pocket handkerchief; 
 for which Aristophanes said, "the old men per- 
 ferred a fox's tail." 
 
 There is hardly a book in the Iliad which 
 does not refer to linen and the noble art of 
 weaving; and the proverbial web of Penelope, 
 m the Odyssey, gives added honor to her charms 
 of wit and grace. 
 
 But this a woi'k she made 
 So hugely long, undoing still in nighl 
 By torches, all she did by clay's broad light. 
 
 Because wise Pallas hath given wills to it 
 
 So full of art, and made her understand 
 
 All works in fair skill of a lady's hand. 
 
 But (for her working mind) we read of none 
 
 Of all the old world, in which Greece hath shown 
 
 Her rarest pieces, that could equal her; 
 
 Tyro, Alcmena, and Mycena, were 
 
 To hoki comparison in no degree, 
 
 For solid brain, with wise Penelope. 
 
 — Chapman, Odyssey, Book II., 1. 137. 
 
 In early times, the Island of Delos was the 
 emporium for linen products; she sent exports 
 of Hnen to all ports on the Mediterranean Sea; 
 until the war of Mithridates closed her com- 
 mercial interests. 
 
 Alexander the Great is said to have bound up 
 
14 The Linen Industry 
 
 the wounds of Lysimachus, after battle, with 
 his turban; the king's turbans were of linen 
 ornamented with gold and precious stones, 
 worn like diadems. 
 
 Rome 
 
 Rome owed her knowledge of linen and the 
 textile arts to Greece; the wealth and luxury 
 of the Roman citizen encouraged products from 
 the loom of the finest textures, often embellished 
 with gold and silver embroidery. Rome im- 
 ported from her colonies fine linens, and the 
 emperors established colleges or corporations 
 for its manufacture, which supplied the court 
 and officers of the army; thus the industry was 
 carried wherever the Roman legion penetrated 
 — Spain, Gaul, and the shores of England, 
 
 The citizen's robes and mantles were often 
 very costly. Plutarch relates that Cato, on 
 receiving one of these robes by inheritance, com- 
 manded it to be immediately sold, because he 
 considered it too costly for a conscientious 
 Roman to wear — showing his enmity to luxury. 
 
 Nero's dining-rooms were Kung with Baby- 
 lonian cloth, mentioned by Pliny, ''worth about 
 sixty thousand dollars." Gold and silver were 
 probably combined with the linen, which in- 
 
The Linen Industry 15 
 
 creased the value of the tapestries. PHny also 
 relates with contempt that the Roman ladies 
 "cannot desire to go more rich and costly in 
 their apparel than to wear linen." He de- 
 scribes their weaving establishments, which were 
 placed underground to obtain more moisture 
 and facilitate the spinning of very fine thread. 
 
 Linen was employed not only for articles of 
 dress, especially worn by women, but also for 
 bedding, table covers, napkins, hand towels, 
 and bath towels. 
 
 With the downfall of the Roman power, 
 several centuries, known as the dark ages, 
 followed, when each tribe or family made only 
 enough for home consumption. The great com- 
 mercial interests lay dormant, until the re- 
 awakening of the tenth century, when markets 
 for all the textiles were again established. 
 
 England 
 
 The conquest of England by William of 
 Normandy (1066 a. d.), and the immigration 
 from Flanders which followed, gave an impulse 
 to English linen manufacture. In the early 
 renaissance the linen of Flanders was famous 
 and her artisans skilled in its manufacture. 
 
i6 The Linen Industry 
 
 A curious story is told of the case of a man 
 in England who had been cited for offending 
 against a law, then in force, to prevent the 
 wearing of too wide breeches, and who pleaded 
 in defence the exceeding utility of the extrava- 
 gant fashion. In proof of which he produced 
 from the prosq^ibed garments a number of 
 sheets, two table cloths, ten napkins, four 
 shirts, and other linen articles, and was pro- 
 ceeding to the extraction of more, when the 
 judge amidst much laughter, stopped and dis- 
 missed him." 
 
 The finest linen was imported from Holland, 
 used principally for shirts, often elaborately 
 embroidered, and costing fifty dollars apiece. 
 Linen in some places was held at such value, 
 that it was used for money. 
 
 United States 
 
 With the colonization of America, the knowl- 
 edge and use of linen was brought to these 
 shores by the Pilgrim Fathers. Flax spinning 
 and weaving in the colonies was a common 
 household industry, until the invention of the 
 cotton-gin, cheapening the cost of the manu- 
 facture of cotton ^which was then largely sub- 
 
The Linen Industry 17 
 
 stituted for Jinen. There are beautiful examples 
 of colonial linens which are to-day the pride of 
 many households, and the grandmother's spin- 
 ning wheel is treasured as an ornament for the 
 best room of the house. 
 
 The Colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
 Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and other 
 places, as early as 1640, passed laws encourag- 
 ing the production of flax, besides re-printing 
 pamphlets of foreign publication, for the "Bene- 
 fit of the Inhabitants," and recommended them 
 to their perusal. 
 
 Of the later use and development of flax and 
 iinen manufacture in this country, a following 
 chapter will treat. 
 
 To-day, the countries of Egypt, Greece, 
 Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Russia, 
 Great Britain, and Italy yield flax fibre and 
 export linens. In tracing the history of the 
 textile it has been clearly seen that each coun- 
 try has apparently held tenaciously to an art 
 which in early times was of commercial value. 
 
II 
 
 THE FLAX PLANT 
 
 The botanical name of the flax plant is Linum 
 usitatissiffiiuri. The English word, linen, is 
 derived from the generic name, linum, and the 
 term lint, from the old Scotch word, liti. Flax 
 grows wild in Egypt, and is cultivated all over 
 the world. Botanists claim that there are at 
 least one hundred species of the plant, with 
 flowers of various colors, some yellow, white, 
 flesh-color, red, and blue. 
 
 The plant ol the Lniiini usitatissimun con- 
 sists of a single stalk, growing from twenty to 
 forty inches high, the average height about 
 thirty inches; of a green color, with leaves 
 alternating on the stalk; crowned with a beau- 
 tiful blue flower of five petals sometimes called 
 the fugitive flower, because the petals fall almost 
 as soon as the blossom opens. 
 
 Plutarch writes that the reason the Egyptians 
 used the flax plant, with the blue flower, for 
 
 cloth, was because, "the universe itself is sur- 
 
 19 
 
20 
 
 The Linen Industry 
 
 rounded with the ethereal blue of the sky." As 
 soon as the petals of the flower fall, the seed 
 bolls are formed; in each section, two cells are 
 formed, each boll containing ten shiny, dark 
 brown seeds. The seed has a medicinal quality, 
 being used for poultices and' flaxseed-tea; 
 the outer coating contains a mucilaginous sub- 
 
 THE FLAX PLANT AND BLOSSOMS 
 
 stance, which has properties that are soothing 
 to inflamed membrane. 
 
 The seeds are used for making linseed oil; 
 first they are bruised, then heated, and sub- 
 jected to hydraulic pressure, when they yield 
 from twenty to twenty-seven per cent oil. This 
 oil is especially valuable for varnishes because 
 
'Hic LiiH'ii Industry .21 
 
 of its drying properties. When the oil comes 
 from the press, it is termed "raw oil," when 
 subjected to heat, "boiled oil." The remains 
 of the seed, after the oil is extracted, is made 
 » into a cake much used for fodder. When the 
 -flax is grown for seed, it is sown thinly, in order 
 that the stalks may throw out a great many 
 branches, and yield a large crop of seed. The 
 
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 LV5'.-, 
 
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 A I' 
 
 ^•..-„„-^. 
 
 METHOD OF STAPKING FLAX 
 
 fibre of the plant grown for seed is coarse and 
 useless for fine materials. 
 
 To produce a good crop of flax fibre, great 
 care is taken in the selection of the seed, which 
 should be of the previous year's growth. The 
 best seed comes from Riga — it is a Dutch 
 seed. The ground should be carefully pre- 
 pared, dry, of sandy loam, with strong sub-soil 
 
22 The Linen Intlustry 
 
 — the climate, temperate and moist. It is 
 sown in the early spring —April or May, and 
 reaped in August when the stalks have turned 
 two-thirds yellow. Flax yields a better quality 
 of fibre after a rotation of crops, such as grass, * 
 oats, potatoes, and wheat; the same ground 
 should not be used but once in six or eight years. 
 It is necessary to harvest the flax by hand; the 
 stalks are tied carefully and stacked in the open 
 fields. In Germany, where the seed is saved, it 
 is taken from the stalks by drawing them through 
 a coarse comb. 
 
 Flax is cultivated in Russia, Germany, Switzer- 
 land, Italy, Holland, Belgium, France, Ireland, 
 England, Scotland, Greece, and America. 
 
 Each stalk consists of a woody cylinder; out- 
 side of this and cemented to it, are the long, 
 shiny fibres which are glued to an outer skin or 
 bark. In order to separate these fibres from 
 the outer skin or bark, the bark has to be retted 
 or rotted away. There are several ways of 
 retting flax. One method is to place the bundles 
 of flax, with their roots down, in ponds; it is 
 covered with straw and boards, and kept in the 
 water until decomposition has liberated the 
 bark from the fibre. This process is slow, 
 requiring from ten days to two weeks. It has 
 to be carefully watched, or the fibre will become 
 
The Linen Industry 
 
 23 
 
 too brittle if allowed to remain in the water too 
 long. 
 
 In Belgium the straw^ is placed in crates and 
 submerged in the sluggish running river Lys, 
 at Courtrai. The flax retted in this manner 
 is of the finest quality, owing largely to the 
 properties of the water. 
 
 In Russia another method is used, called 
 
 SHUWINc; METHOD OF FORMING. STOOKS 
 
 dew-retting. The straw is placed in open fields 
 on rather moist ground, where decomposition 
 is accomplished by sun and rain. This form 
 of retting takes a longer time. 
 
 When the bundles are taken from the water, 
 they are at first stooked in the open fields, then 
 opened, and allowed to dry. When completely 
 retted the outer bark falls away very readily. 
 
24 
 
 The Linen Industry 
 
 In order to make the fibre perfectly free, the 
 inner woody cyHnder must be disposed of; the 
 removal of this pith is accomplished by a process 
 called scutching. The primitive method was 
 to break the stalk with the hand, then beat out 
 the pieces of wood. In Ireland, to-day, it is 
 said this is accomplished by breaking over a 
 back of a chair; of course, this is only for 
 
 A BREAKER (PRIMITIVE) 
 
 household uses. A primitive pattern of a break- 
 ing-machine is shown in the illustration. Later 
 improvements have been made, where fluted 
 rollers are used to crush the fiax. Scutching 
 mills are established in flax growing districts. 
 The particles of wood are removed by being 
 placed in upright posts and combed with wooden 
 
7'he Linen Industry 
 
 25 
 
 knives. As the flax is beaten, a certain amount 
 of the fibre is wliipped off, and is known in the 
 Irish scutch mills as "codilla," a very cheap 
 material used for coarse goods. 
 
 Fla.v now becomes commercial, with the 
 finishing of these processes, and is ready for 
 
 ( OMMF.Rr I M. II AX 
 
 the markets. It is characterized as a fibre, 
 by its length, fineness, solidity, and suppleness 
 — the length being especially valuable in spin- 
 ning, as well as contributing to the durability 
 of the textile. 
 
 The color and quality varies, owing to the 
 
26 
 
 The Linen Industry 
 
 soil, climate, and process of retting used. It 
 is sold usually in fourteen pound bundles, called 
 in England a "stone," including one hundred 
 pound lots, ranging in price from three to five 
 shillings. The finest quality of flax brings 
 often eight hundred dollars a ton, while the 
 cheapest, only about one hundred dollars. 
 
 EGYPTIAN SPINDLES 
 
 Spinning 
 
 The flax is made exceedingly smooth by 
 careful combings, when used and made into 
 yarn in the household. 
 
 For spinning, in early times, the distaff was 
 used. The flax was fastened on loosely, in 
 order that the fibres could be easily drawn out; 
 
The Linen Industry 27 
 
 one fibre being joined to another by twisting 
 and overlapping the ends; the end of the yarn 
 was fastened to a spindle, usually weighted; 
 as the thread gradually lengthened, the spindle 
 spun round and round, falling to the ground. 
 The illustration represents some Egyptian spin- 
 dles in the British Museum. 
 
 Wilkinson describes them as follows: 
 
 The spindles were generally small, l)cing about three 
 inches in length, and several have been found at Thebes, 
 and are now preserved in the museums of Europe. They 
 were generally of wood, and, in order to increase impetus 
 in turning, the circular head was occasionally of gypsum 
 or composition; some, however, were of a light jjlaited 
 work, made of rushes, or palm leaves, stained various 
 colors, and furnished with a loop of the same materials, 
 for securing the twine after it was wound. (Chapter IX.) 
 
 The spinner stood, holding the distaff in 
 the right arm, and with the use of both hands 
 pulled out the fibre, which was fastened upon 
 the spindle, and gradually fell to the ground; 
 when the spindle reached the ground, the 
 thread was wound on the spindle and fastened, 
 this operation was continued until the task 
 was finished. 
 
 At the discovery of the lake-dwellers, in 
 Switzerland, in 1865, forty spindles were found 
 which were at least three thousand years old. 
 
 A gentleman traveling in a remote province 
 
28 The Linen Industry 
 
 of England, in 1865, found a woman spinning 
 with a spindle made of a potato fastened to a stick. 
 The spindle and distaff spread all over the 
 world, but simple as they were, some tribes 
 never made the discovery, and continued twist- 
 ing fibres, by rolling them between the palms 
 and thighs. 
 
 Among our ancestors, the seventh of January 
 was called St. Distaff's Day, or Rock Day. This 
 was because women resumed the rock or distaff 
 on that Day, after the twehe days' celebration 
 of Christmas. After such revelry as accompanied 
 the Christmas festival, it would not do to begin 
 work too vigorously. The women, howe\er, 
 seemed to be more conscientious than the men, 
 who played pranks with the flax and tow, in re- 
 turn for which the maids poured water over the 
 men. Even as late as the days of Burns, a social 
 assemblage was called a rocking because the lasses 
 each brought her spinning apparatus or rock." 
 
 THE .MORROW AFTER TWELFTH DAY 
 
 Partly work and partly play, 
 You must work on St. Distaff's Day, 
 From the plow soon free your team; 
 Then come home and fother them. 
 If the maids a spinning go, 
 Burn the flax and lire the tow; 
 Bring in pails of water, then 
 Let the maid be wash the men. 
 
The Linen Industry 2g 
 
 Give St. DistalT all the right; 
 
 Then bid Christmas sjjort good -night, 
 
 And next morrow e\-er\' one 
 
 To his own x'ocation. — Robert llcrrick 
 
 The Spinning Wheel 
 
 The spinning of flax with the spindle was 
 superseded about the beginning of the four- 
 teenth century, by the invention of the spinning 
 wheel; and in the early part of the sixteenth 
 century the wheel was invented, at which the 
 spinner sat. 
 
 The construction of the wheel varies — the 
 distafi^ was fastened on to the frame in a per- 
 pendicular position, at the further end; and 
 just below, the spindle revolved on a pivot, 
 controlled by a cord attached to the wheel. 
 The spindle held a bobbin, on which the flyer 
 revolving with greater rapidity than the bobbin 
 gave the thread the necessary twist. 
 
 The treadles to regulate the wheel were of 
 later date. About 1764, the two-handed wheel, 
 with two spindles, was invented. It is described 
 as follows: "The frame of the machine stood 
 on three feet, on the right of which facing the 
 spinner, was a spoked wheel, of about two feet 
 in diameter, with the rim slightly hollowed out- 
 
30 The Linen Industry 
 
 side. Rapid motion was given to the wheel 
 by a wooden rod or crank, connecting the axle 
 of the wheel to the treadle or footboard, and 
 moved at will by the foot of the operator, much 
 in the same wav as a lathe-turning is mo\ed. 
 On the left were two pirns or spindles, one for 
 each hand, for receiving the yarn as it was spun, 
 driven by means of bands of gut, or cords of 
 flax or woolen yarns, tightly twisted, passing 
 around the rim of the wheels and their axles. 
 Each pirn or spindle had a flyer for twisting 
 and guiding the thread before it was wound on 
 the bobbin, which was a hollow reed slipped 
 (j\er the axle and fitting rather closely to it. 
 The fly went round with great rapidity, while the 
 bobbin being kept back by the strain of the thread, 
 turned round on the axle only as fast as it was 
 let out bv the spinner. This depended upon 
 the degree of twist intended bv the spinner, 
 and the skill of tlie operator. The rock or 
 distaft with the flax wound round it in the man- 
 ner best adapted for admitting of the filaments 
 being readily drawn out by the spinner, was 
 placed above the pirns, and both hands were 
 employed in drawing out the fibres and iorm- 
 ing the threads. The threads after being car- 
 ried through a throttle or opening in the end 
 of the spindle were from time to time shifted 
 
The Linen Industry 
 
 31 
 
 along the flyer by means of small pieces of bent 
 wire attached to it, for the purpose of filling the 
 bobbin regularly with the yarn as it was spun. 
 During the operation the spinner moistened 
 the thread with saliva, the better to unite the 
 fibres and improve the appearance of the yarn." 
 The wheels were often made of fine woods, 
 
 PRISCILI.A SPINNIMO 
 
 Barse 
 
 beautifully polished, quite suitable to use in 
 the drawing-room. Women of all classes learned 
 the art, and one of the survivals of this universal 
 custom is in the term "spinster," applied to 
 unmarried women of an uncertain age. 
 
 Longfellow, in "Miles Standish," gives a 
 charming picture of Priscilla at her wheel — 
 "her white hands feeding the spindle, while 
 
32 The Linen Industty 
 
 her foot on the treadle, she guides the wheel." 
 In Evangeline, the hum of the wheel resounds, 
 when "the maidens and matrons sat in white 
 caps and kirtles — with distaff spinning the 
 golden flax for gossiping looms — whose noisy 
 shuttles within doors, mingle their sounds with 
 the whir of the wheels, and the songs of the 
 maidens." Evangeline, again, is seated — 
 "spinning flax for the loom — while the monot- 
 onous drone of the wheel followed the old 
 man's song." 
 
 The revival of the hand-spinning industry 
 has been supervised by a Mr. Albert Flemming, 
 in Langdale, a town in England. Studying 
 the art himself, by finding an old \\oman who 
 had spun from her youth. Mr. Flemming be- 
 came most proficient, and so much interested 
 that he established an industry in the region, 
 loaning wheels and giN'ing flax to all who de- 
 sired. It has proved a great success, so much 
 so, that at the yearly gathering, or socialtea, 
 of the members, when they are asked it they 
 wish to give up their wheels, the answer is most 
 emphatically, no. The replies even show an 
 eagerness to add more opportunities to others 
 in the neighborhood. 
 
 For the women, it proves a source for extra 
 pennies, which add to their household comforts, 
 
The Linen Industry ^^ 
 
 and spending industriously many long winter 
 evenings, perhaps otherwise given solely to 
 gossip. 
 
 The invention of the spinning wheel has been 
 given by tradition to an inhabitant of Nodville, 
 and the following tale has been taken from the 
 account of one Sir Henry Hunlock. 
 
 FAIRY TALE 
 
 There was once an old woman and her daughter, who 
 lived at the side of a hill, in the midst of a forest, near 
 Nod\-iIle. They were poor and their onlv support was 
 obtained from selling the thread which' the daughter 
 spun wiih her spindle and distaff. During the %ng 
 winter when the roads were so bad that merchants of the 
 surrounding country could not come to ]jurchase the 
 thread, the daughter, one of the most beautiful of creatures, 
 worked witliout ceasing to spin enough thread to enable 
 her to purchase a cloak for her moiher, and a scarlet 
 shawl for herself. 
 
 It happened that the King's son of thac country, who 
 was an only son, while out one day deer hunting, lost his 
 way in the forest, and called at the widow's cottage to 
 incjuire the way. He was pleased with the girl's beauty, 
 and not less with the numerous skeins of yarn which 
 lay upon the cottage floor, showing her skill and industry. 
 
 He inquired how it happened that she had collected 
 so much, and the old woman replied that she had spun 
 it all in a week. '"In a week!" exclaimed the aston- 
 ished Prince. "If this be true, I have found a 'gal' 
 more worthy of attachment than any other in the whole 
 country." I will send you a load of flax and if she has 
 
34 ■ The Linen Industry 
 
 it spun at the end of a week I will make her my bride, 
 but if not, I will have you both killed for deceiving the 
 son of your sovereign." 
 
 A long train of camels on the next day laden with flax, 
 stood before the door of the cottage. The driver unloaded 
 them, and told the girl she must spin this all in a wet-k 
 or prepare for death. 
 
 After they had departed, she was crushed with despair, 
 she went into tlie forest and sitting down under a tree, 
 wept bitterly. While she was weeping a decrepit old 
 man came up to her and inquired the cause of her tears. 
 She told him the whole story. "Do not weep, daughter," 
 he said, "I will execute every one of the tasks imposed 
 upon you by the Prince, provided you will either give 
 me your oldest son when he is twelve months and one 
 day old, or that you shall in the intervening time find 
 out my name." She agreed to the terms at once, and in 
 some mysterious way the old man conveyed the flax 
 away, and an hour before the Prince arrived, returned 
 the finest and best twisted thread ever seen in Nodville. 
 The Prince made the girl his bride, and conveyed her 
 and her mother to the beautiful palace which stood on 
 a very high hill and cost a great deal of money. 
 
 Every Monday before sunrise the Prince gave his wife 
 a quantity of flax which he expected to be spun through 
 the week, and every Saturday night the yarn was made 
 ready by the mysterious old man. At length the Prin- 
 cess became the mother of a beautiful boy, and the thoughts 
 of the bargain she had made drove her distracted. Every 
 effort she made she could not find out the name of the 
 wonderful spinner, and e\-ery time he came lie reminded 
 her of her promise, and that the time was near when he 
 had a right to claim her child. 
 
 One evening as she sat oppressed, her husband inquired 
 the reason of her sadness, but she was unable to answer 
 him a word. "Come, my love," said he, "do not be 
 
The Linen Industry 35 
 
 cast down and I will tell nou an interesting story: While 
 out hunting to-day 1 lost my way in the forest — I thought 
 I heard a human voice, and following in the direction 
 of the sound, I came to a cave where I saw an old man, 
 who did not notice me, so deeply was he engaged in his 
 work, a strange sort of labor. He was spinning, not as you 
 do with the distaff, but with a wheel, which flew round 
 as rapidly as lightning — and gave out a sound like water 
 falling from a mountain torrent — all the while he never 
 ceased singing: 
 
 My mistress, little she knows my name, 
 
 Which shan't be forgot, which shan't be forgot, 
 
 When a Prince is heir to the fortune I claim. 
 
 Of Walloty Trot, Walloty Trot. 
 
 I come at the end of a year and a day, 
 
 And take the young Prince, my heir away. 
 
 With my whack! she goes! 
 
 While nobody knows 
 
 My trusty machine 
 
 In this cave unseen 
 
 Here in this spot 
 
 For Walloty Trot. . 
 
 The Princess made her husband repeat the rhyme 
 several times, until she was sure that she could remem- 
 ber it perfectly. When the old man came to claim her 
 child, "Stop neighbor," said she, "there goes another 
 word to that bargain, I have found out your name. It is 
 Walloty Trot." "You have indeed found out my name," 
 said he, my business on earth is well-nigh tinished, but 
 before I depart I am bound to tell you the secret of my 
 art." He went into the forest and returned with his 
 wheels. He then taught the lady their use — showing 
 her that he could spin sixty-six times more with them 
 than she could with the distaff — and then vanished, 
 after which he was never seen again in that part of the 
 world. 
 
36 The Linen Industry 
 
 The prince and princess taught this new branch of 
 industry to their subjects — which so enriched them that 
 all the surrounding nations regarded them with admira- 
 tion. 
 
 — Sir Henrx Ilunlock, 181 2. British Folk Lore 
 
 Weaving 
 
 The art of \vea\ ing, though \ery ancient, has 
 been considered the distinctive feature between 
 the savage and civilized tiibes. 
 
 \Vea\ing is the art of interlacing threads, 
 that is, alternating one series over and under 
 another to foim a texture. 
 
 The Egvptians have been credited with the 
 invention of weaving, and on the tomb walls of 
 Beni-Hassan, there are two kinds of looms 
 depicted, one horizontal, the other vertical. 
 (Wilkinson, Chapter IX., Plares 386, 387. j 
 Herodotus describing the methods of wea\ing 
 used by the Egyptians says that "Other nations 
 made cloth by pushing the woof upwards, the 
 Egyptians on the contrary press it down." In 
 a document, written by Pope Alexander VE, 
 the antiquity of weaving is credited to the 
 invention of one man, while other authorities 
 claim the knowledge originally came through 
 some supernatural agency. 
 
The Linen Industry 37 
 
 "It appears," says his Hohness, Pope Alex- 
 ander VI., "that the world was first indebted 
 to one Arkite Chiden Ghelen, an extremely 
 ingenious artisan of Nodville, for the first regu- 
 larly manufactured piece of cloth ever produced 
 on the surface of this terrestrial globe; and 
 although it was akin to what we at this time 
 and generation call matting, and produced by 
 twisting and interlacing leaf, stems, and fibres 
 together, yet the workmanship cannot be sur- 
 passed by the manufacturers of Bolton cloths 
 of the present day." From this it would ap- 
 pear that his Holiness had a sample of the cloth 
 actually in his possession. Perhaps sewing 
 the fig leaves, as mentioned in the Book of 
 Genesis, has reference to this same process — 
 an obvious impnnement of the garment of 
 leaves, which was suggested by twisting the peel 
 of rushes into fine strings, by which means 
 superior textures were produced; but this im- 
 provement was not adopted generally, in the 
 part of the country of which I speak, till after 
 the death of Methuselah." "It did not escape 
 the notice of the mat weavers, that their work 
 was more flexible and agreeable to the wearer 
 (particularly for under-garments), by the use 
 of a finer fibre, and accordingly we find that 
 numerous trials were actually made with the 
 
^S The Linen Industry 
 
 fibres of various kinds of plants, such as those 
 of hemp and flax species." 
 
 As referred to in the historical notes, weaving 
 was mentioned frequently in the Bible, and in 
 the classic literature of the Greeks. Virgil, 
 who was a realist in his portrayal of nature and 
 man's share of labor, gives a vivid scene of 
 the art of weaving, when he describes a contest 
 between Minerva and Arachne. In the Meta- 
 morphoses of Ovid, the art of making linen 
 cloth was attributed to both contestants. It 
 was for merit of the invention that the chal- 
 lenge was supposed to have been made — 
 Arachne, proud of her ingenuity in the art, 
 presents the challenge. 
 
 Both take their stations and the piece prepare, 
 
 And order even,- slender thread with care, 
 
 The web enwraps the beam, the reed divides, 
 
 While through the intervening space the shuttle ghdes 
 
 Which their swift hands receive, then poised with lead 
 
 The swinging weight strikes close the inserted thread, 
 
 Each girds her flowing garments round her waist. 
 
 And plies her feet with dexterous haste." 
 
 Minerva is enraged that she should find a 
 rival, and be outdone by Arachne; in her rage 
 she strikes Arachne with her shuttle, and wounds 
 her pride, which causes Arachne to hang her- 
 self. Minerva, regretting her deed and touched 
 
The Linen Industry 
 
 39 
 
 with compassion, transforms Arachne into a 
 spider, in this way perpetrating her art until 
 this day. 
 
 (Sec Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book VI,, Fable i.) 
 
 THE RUSSIAN LOOM 
 
 Looms 
 
 The first looms were probably stretched upon 
 the ground. Then vertical looms were made 
 — the threads were wound on a pole which 
 rested upon two upright posts, and the threads 
 were attached to a pole on the ground. The 
 weaver carried the thread of the woof to and 
 
40 The Linen Industry 
 
 fro with his fingers, over and under the warp 
 threads. A reed was then used to press the 
 thread down and make the texture firm. The 
 first kind of instrument employed to carry the 
 thread was fike a knitting needle, having a 
 hook in one end, which held the end of the 
 thread. A shepherd's crook originated from 
 this design. 
 
 The principles of all early looms are the same. 
 The one most familiar, similar to the Russian 
 loom in the illustration, has four upright posts 
 (in this frame the two forward ones have been 
 cut ofi); these are held together by cross-beams. 
 At the front is a beam upon which the material 
 is wound as it is woven, while at the back a 
 beam holds the wound warp — this is raised 
 and lowered according to the amount of yarn 
 upon it. The lay is suspended not far from 
 the front — it is used to press the threads of 
 the woof together. 
 
 Behind the lay are the heddles, hung from 
 pulleys, which connect with the treadles under 
 the frame work, and are raised and lowered at 
 will. The heddles are composed of loops in 
 the centre of each piece of twine; there are as 
 many heddles as there are threads in the warp, 
 which are passed through the loops. For 
 plain weaving two heddles are suflRcient, and 
 
The Linen Industry 41 
 
 these are threaded alternately, so that half of 
 the threads are raised at once, through which 
 the shuttle can be passed; then the other heddle 
 is raised, and the shuttle passing back completes 
 the web, by passing through the other half of 
 the threads of the warp. The lay is then 
 swung against the weft and presses it into 
 place. 
 
 This simply constructed loom has received 
 many improvements — automatic devices ap- 
 plied to almost every part, until at first sight, 
 the great power-looms of the modern factory 
 seem to be machines with complicated princi- 
 ples, but they are all built on the fundamental 
 principles of the earliest weaver. 
 
 When patterns of varied colors were desired, 
 or even plain patterns on plain goods were de- 
 sired, the arrangement of the heddles was more 
 complicated and there was often a great number 
 of them. In the weaving of many patterns, the 
 assistance of a boy was required. He was called 
 a draw-boy, and had a seat above the frame, 
 where he could raise and lower the heddles at 
 a signal from the weaver. This primiti\e 
 method has been made an automatic one and 
 patented in the well-known Jacquard Loom, 
 described in a later chapter. 
 
42 The Linen Industry 
 
 THE WEAVER 
 
 The weaver sal by his burden 
 Waiting the work to begin, 
 
 Dreamily throwing the shuttle 
 Backward and forward between; 
 
 Questioning much of the pattern, 
 Watching for it to be seen. 
 
 The shuttle was filled with colors, 
 
 Of ever\' shade and glow, 
 Thoughtless, he scattered the radiance 
 
 Falling above and below. 
 The pulse of the loom was beating 
 
 Solemnly to and fro. 
 
 The throb of the loom grew stronger, 
 The shuttle flew faster between; 
 
 One thread seemed a line of shadow, 
 Another a ray serene, 
 
 But the solemn loom wove together, 
 Equally, shade and sheen. 
 
PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE 
 
 It is impossible to state briefly the gradual 
 development of machine processes, which led 
 to the establishment of factories for the pro- 
 duction of linen fabrics to supply the demand 
 of modern social life. The factory, that is the 
 manufacturing plant, so-called, which includes 
 the uses of all kinds of machines run by power, 
 for the preparation of the fibre, spinning and 
 weaving of material desired, is a product of the 
 last century. 
 
 Colleges or factories of the olden times con- 
 sisted merely of groups of workmen that either 
 spun the thread, or wove the cloth; each series 
 of processes determined a completed task. 
 
 To-day the textile is all manufactured within 
 the same plant. Although the industries of 
 this country are fully developed and our re- 
 sources of production are very large, yet to 
 study the best manufactures of the finest linen 
 fabrics, it is necessary to visit the factories of 
 the "Old World." There are many reasons 
 
 43 
 
44 The Linen Industry 
 
 for this, the principal one being the large in- 
 terests in this country in cotton industry to the 
 exclusion of flax; secondly, the great value of 
 the product of flax seed and its products; 
 thirdly, the lack of skilled labor in this country 
 for the growing and handling of large quantities 
 of flax. The three reasons explain the im- 
 portation to the United States of flax yarns, 
 used in the product of linen cloths; while the 
 importations of the fibre are used principally 
 for thread, twines, and rope manufacture, 
 also for the cheaper grades of linen. Ou. 
 finest linens come consequently from Ireland, 
 Germany, France, and other European countries. 
 
 For half a century, Belfast has been one of 
 the leading centres of the linen trade, and 
 through the interests of the Royal Flax Society 
 of Ireland, which received at one time the recog- 
 nition of Queen Victoria as well as contributions 
 from the English government, the Belfast mills 
 have greatly increased the number of spindles 
 and send to all the leading markets of the world 
 their fine linens. 
 
 Through the courtesy of the representative 
 of the York Street Flax Spinning Company, of 
 Belfast, Ireland, the illustrations here used have 
 been obtained, and the difl'ercnt processes made 
 clear. 
 
The Linen Industry 
 The Factory 
 
 45 
 
 The processes of the manufacture of flax 
 vary with the quality of the flax, and is also 
 dependent upon the purpose for which it is 
 to be used. To determine the specific use and 
 purpose to which each kind of flax fibre is best 
 
 Roir.nlNT. THF II w 
 
 adapted requires a long, practical experience, 
 and is of \alue to every manufacture. 
 
 In giving the following mill system, there- 
 fore, only the processes in general use can be 
 discussed, as often modifications are made or 
 processes are repeated to obtain textile of a 
 special quality. 
 
 The commercial flax from the storehouse 
 
46 
 
 The Linen Industry- 
 
 supply, first passes to the "roughing" depart- 
 ment of the mill, where the bundles are opened 
 and divided into handfuls of a certain size. 
 They are then "squared" by being drawn 
 through a coarse comb or hand hackle, where 
 the loose ends and straggling bits of fibre are 
 combed out, the pieces left in the hackle are 
 
 MACHIXE HACKIING 
 
 removed by hand and placed evenly with the 
 bunch. This operation is renewed several times, 
 until the lumps, knots, and coarse tow have 
 been removed, the bundles opened up and 
 when combed are laid carefully in cross bundles, 
 and sent to the machine hackling room. 
 
 "Machine skill and practical experience are 
 
The I.inen Indiistrv 
 
 47 
 
 required to hackle the different kinds of flax 
 with the machines best adapted with gradation 
 and number of hackles, and to regulate the 
 speed of sheets and head. Each bundle of flax 
 is fastened on a rod at the top of the machine, 
 moving from one side to the other. Beneath 
 the flax is a revolving roller, made of slats on 
 which are hundreds of fine wire pins; as the 
 
 THE SPREAn-BOARDS 
 
 wheel revolves, it seems to creep gradually 
 up the strips of flax, combing them, and strip- 
 ping out the roughened ends and coarse fibres. 
 This machine is known as the '' hackling ma- 
 chine." The flax is removed and passed through 
 this machine several times if the fibre is desired 
 of extreme fineness. 
 
 The term "preparing" is given to the three 
 
48 The Linen Industry 
 
 different processes which follow the hackling. 
 The system begins with the "spreader," or the 
 machine sometimes named the first drawing. 
 The bundles of hackled flax are placed on the 
 boards of the spreader, and fed to the machine, 
 which draws them in over between fluted rollers, 
 and traverses a series of hackles; the fibre is 
 then caught by a pair of drawdng rollers, and 
 becomes a ribbon-like form called a sli\er. 
 The machine has drawn out the fibres and laid 
 them parallel; as the sliver comes from the 
 machine it falls into a high tin can. Each 
 spread table usually contains six-line spreaders. 
 This drawing process is repeated over and over 
 again by placing several slivers together, form- 
 ing and equalizing a smoother and more per- 
 fect sliver. 
 
 The next machine, called the "roving frame," 
 is one of the most complicated. It consists of 
 twisting the fibre into a ro\e or loose thread. 
 This is accomplished by the addition of a 
 bobbin and flyer to the drawing rollers. The 
 bobbin is made to revolve with such speed as 
 to wind up the rove as fast as it is yielded by 
 the last pair of rollers, and the flyer with so 
 much additional speed as to give the sliver the 
 desired twist while mo\ing between the roller 
 and bobbin." If the sliver was not twisteid it 
 
The T.Int'n Industry 
 
 49 
 
 would not hold together to jxiss through the 
 spinning frame. 1 hese machines are fed from 
 the cans which hold the sli\er from the drawing 
 frames, and for the first time the fibre is wound 
 on bobbins. | ^ S ^ 3 
 
 The waste material that results from the 
 drawing and roving machines is called tow, and 
 is used for manufacture of cheap materials. 
 
 Ill; wvINi; \\|) i;ri\IN" 
 
 It is prepared on carding machines, similar to 
 those used for short staple fibres like cotton. 
 
 Machinery was first applied to spinning 
 without the aid of water, but it was found that 
 the heat and water softened the "greasy princi- 
 ple which binds the cells together," and allows 
 the thread to be drawn and attenuated to a 
 
5° 
 
 The Linen Industry 
 
 greater degree, as well as making them finer 
 and smoother. 
 
 In the dry spinning frame the bobbins of 
 flax are arranged in rows in an inclined plane 
 on the top of the machine. The rove passes 
 through a first guide, then is caught by nipping 
 rollers, thence through drawing rollers, to the 
 
 flyer which gi\es the required twist, and finally 
 to the bobbin. The machine for wet-spinning 
 is similar, although the bobbins are placed in 
 a perpendicular position above the frame, and 
 the rove passes through a trough of water 
 before entering between the rollers. 
 
 Napoleon wishing to strike a blow against 
 
The Linen Industry 
 
 the British nianutactures of cotton, otilered a 
 reward of one miUion francs to an inventor of the 
 best machine for wet or dry spinning of flax. 
 Phillipe de Girard, hoping to avail himself of 
 the reward, patented machines, but receiving 
 no recognition from the French government, 
 accepted an invitation from Austria to estab- 
 lish mills there, and for a time was successful. 
 
 England, however, stimulated by her success 
 in cotton manufactures, aroused interest in the 
 spinning of flax, and in 1787 two men of Dar- 
 lington perfected patents that completed the 
 system of mill spinning and firmly established 
 the production of linens. 
 
52 
 
 The Linen Industry 
 
 The process that follows the sj^inning ot the 
 fibre consists in the doubling and trebling it, 
 until of required quality and strength. It is 
 then reeled from the bobbins into hanks. There 
 is a law in England that requires that the stand- 
 ard measure of a hank of flax yarn shall be three 
 hundred yards, called a "cut" or "lea." Each 
 
 thread in the hank is two and one-half yards 
 long. One hundred and twenty threads form 
 a lea. Thus when the term "50 lea" is used, 
 it means that there are "50 leas" of three 
 hundred yards each, in a pound. 
 
 The original st ick of flax laid on the feeding 
 rollers, doubled, drawn and extended in the 
 
The Linen Industry 
 
 53 
 
 spinning frame, produces from one yard of 
 hackled line, about 9,400 miles of yarn. 
 
 The hanks of yarn are carefully examined 
 to discover imperfections in bad piecings, or 
 the formation of double threads, lumps, or 
 swells; they are also carefully counted, then 
 tied into bundles. The skeins of yarn are 
 
 MACHINK WARPINt. 
 
 Stretched across pegs, which hold five or six 
 hanks; they are tied together in bundles 
 weighing about forty pounds, termed a 
 "press bundle." The yarn is then ready 
 for the market and is conveniently handled 
 for commercial purposes. If the yarn is to 
 be used in the factory for weaving or finished 
 
54 
 
 The Linen Industry 
 
 thread, it is wound again on large wooden 
 spindles. 
 
 These spindles or spools are ready, either to 
 be wound on bobbins for the weft of the ma- 
 terial, or for the warp. The latter threads are 
 wound on a warping beam from an upright 
 frame, which holds as many spools as there 
 
 HAND LOOM WARPING 
 
 are threads in the given width of the material 
 to be woven — this is called "warping." The 
 warp is frequently dressed before being woven. 
 This is done by passing the threads through a 
 preparation of sizing, then over heated rollers, 
 in order that the threads may be perfectly dry 
 before being wound on the beam. Another 
 treatment sometimes given is to pass the threads 
 
The Linen Industry 
 
 55 
 
 over a cylinder of flour paste, and in a trough 
 of paste, which is equalized by a series of brushes 
 in the machine, and dried on steam heated 
 cylinders. This preparation is to facilitate the 
 machine process of weaving. 
 
 The next process takes one to the room con- 
 taining the vast number of power looms, one 
 
 DRESSING OR SIZING THE WARP 
 
 of the seemingly noisiest places in the factory. 
 It might be conceded to be also the busiest place, 
 for the shuttles in the great machines fly back 
 and forth with such rapidity that their actual 
 flight can hardly be discerned. One notices 
 the rising and falling of the machine lay as 
 it presses the woof into place. This machine 
 
56 
 
 The Linen Industry 
 
 impresses one as the culmination of all in\en- 
 tions. Especially is this true of the great 
 Jacquard loom. No matter how intricate the 
 pattern, or varied the colors, this wonderful 
 machine accomplishes the work with a precision 
 that is certainly a perfected art. 
 
 The same principle is applied in the power 
 
 -M \V! UINl 
 
 loom that was explained in the primitive loom 
 of the Russian peasant The many devices and 
 automatic appliances, that at first glance seem 
 to complicate the ordinary power loom, aie 
 useful merely in facilitating the quantitv of 
 material woven, and the texture desired. 
 
The Linen Industry 
 
 57 
 
 The woven material is placed next into a 
 machine, where it undergoes a process termed 
 "beetling." The material wound on a roller 
 is placed in the machine, and as it is re-rolled 
 on another cylinder, a series of arm-like pieces 
 fall with force on every part of the cloth, pound- 
 ing and beating out all of the uneven places 
 in the goods. 
 
 POWER LOOM WEAVING 
 
 If the market calls for an unbleached material 
 it passes on to the "finishing machine,'- where 
 the gloss and finish are given it by heavy rollers. 
 But if on the contrary the material desired is 
 to be a glistening white, pure in color, it then 
 follows a process of bleaching. 
 
58 The Linen Industry 
 
 This varies in every manufacturing establish- 
 ment, according to color required. It is placed 
 generally first in vats containing chemical solu- 
 tions best adapted for the material. 
 
 Bleaching 
 
 The art of bleaching has been known from 
 earliest ages. The different methods and sub- 
 stances used varied with ecch country. Pliny 
 writes that the Gauls and Britons both under- 
 stood a process which he describes : *' They made 
 a bleaching soap of the fat of animals and the 
 ashes of certain vegetables." He claims this 
 method was invented by the Gauls. The 
 people of Holland in early times produced an 
 excellent cloth, by a treatment of buttermilk 
 and lye, followed by washing in black soap and 
 being spread on the grass for two or three weeks. 
 The French used a similar bleaching process. 
 Some celebrated chemists in the last half of the 
 nineteenth century, experimented with chemi- 
 cals for bleaching, and applied chlorine in the 
 whitening processes. Since then some improve- 
 ments have been introduced, and bleaching 
 has become an important branch of the linen 
 manufacture. 
 
The Linen Industry 
 
 59 
 
 The Hnen, after remaining in the bleach vats 
 for a certain length of time, is removed and 
 loaded on carts to be carried to the bleach fields. 
 Grassy meadows are arranged on purpose for 
 the process, called "bleach greens." 
 
 There are many bleach fields in the country 
 near the factories, established and supported 
 by a Board of Trustees, with special rules and 
 
 THE WASH MILLS 
 
 regulations. These fields vary in size from 
 seven to twelve acres. In some instances, 
 and some factories, the bleaching is all done with 
 the chemicals. While the cloth is out on the 
 grass it has to have special attention, frequently 
 being dampened and turned. 
 
6o 
 
 The Linen Industry 
 
 Upon the return of the linen from the bleach- 
 fields, it is placed on the scrub-boards, where 
 it is washed and cleaned of all particles of dust 
 and dirt. Then a process of blueing follows, 
 and drying by passing the material over a series 
 of heated cylinders. The mangling machines, 
 into which the linen next passes, are built with 
 
 CARTiN'G LI^^:^J to the bleach fields 
 
 heavy rollers — they iron and press the linen, 
 giving to it the finish and lustre that is its chief 
 characteristic. 
 
 Machines for measuring, folding, and finish- 
 ing follow: and operations of labeling the 
 goods and packing are given careful attention 
 to prepare them for the market. 
 
The Linen Industry 
 
 6r 
 
 The pnxlucts of manufacture of the mills 
 have been developed within a century of time, 
 but their quality has not excelled, even with all 
 the modern devices, the textures of the ancient 
 looms. 
 
 A machine made article loses the marks of 
 the hand craft, while the home-spun is given 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 THE BLEACH FIELD 
 
 a charm of texture that is individual with the 
 weaver. The same distinction that is found 
 between the hand-carved panel and that made 
 by machine. 
 
 Modern life and its demands, with the value 
 of time ever present, could not be amply sup- 
 plied with sufficient materials if the spinning 
 
62 The Linen Industry 
 
 wheel and the loom was exchanged for the great 
 organizations of machine processes and labor. 
 But nowithstanding this, the value of the fine 
 hand linens is greater than that of the machine- 
 made to-day, and a piece of linen, even of the 
 immediate past generation, is treasured with 
 pride for the skill displayed, and as a monument 
 of a household industry. 
 
IV 
 
 FLAX CULTURE AND LINEN MANU- 
 FACTURE IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 "In colonial times efforts were made to pro- 
 mote the growth of flax, and to introduce the 
 spinning and weaving of the fibre. It was 
 the policy of the mother country to suppress 
 manufactures in the colonies, but the produc- 
 tion of linen goods was a domestic industry 
 which England could not and did not try to 
 prevent. The cultivation of flax was under- 
 taken on a small scale, and the spinning-wheel 
 and the hand-loom were the only available 
 machinery for working it into cloth. It is 
 probable that there was in America scarcely any 
 manufacture of linen for sale— that which 
 was made was a home product intended solely 
 for consumption in the families of the weavers." 
 
 Dr. Horace Bushnell writing of these times 
 in 1 851 says: " If our sons and daughters should 
 assemble, a hundred years hence, they will 
 scarcely be able to imagine the Arcadian picture 
 now so fresh in the memory of many of us, 
 
 6^ 
 
64 The Linen Industry 
 
 though to the younger part already matters of 
 hearsay more than of personal knowledge. 
 The spinning-wheels of wool and flax that used 
 to buzz so familiarly in the childish ears of 
 some of us, will be heard no more, in fact save 
 in the halls of the antiquarian societies, where 
 the delicate daughters will be asking what 
 these strange machines are and how^ they were 
 made to go ? The huge hewn-timber looms 
 that used to occupy a room by themselves in 
 the farmhouse, will be gone, cut up for fire-wood, 
 and their heavy thwack, beating up the woof, 
 will be heard no more by the passerby. The 
 long strips of linen bleaching on the grass and 
 tended by a sturdy maiden sprinkling them each 
 hour from her water can, under a broiling sun, 
 thus to prepare the Sunday linen for her brother's 
 and her own outfit, will have disappeared, 
 save as they return to fill a picture in some novel 
 or ballad of the old time." 
 
 Edward Stanwood in the Census Report for 
 1902 adds to these colonial pictures — -"that 
 it is extremely probable that the desire of the 
 American people to introduce manufactures, 
 thus supplementing their political with indus- 
 trial and commercial independence, would have 
 led them to engage largely in the production of 
 linen fabrics had not the invention of the 
 
The Linen Industry 65 
 
 cotton-gin, by Kli Whitney (patented in 1793), 
 placed in their hands a cheaper fibre than flax, 
 more tractable, requiring less preparation, more 
 easily spun and woven, superior for many pur- 
 poses and decidedly inferior for very few." 
 
 The domestic production gradually died out, 
 and the Congressional Commission report in 
 1864 states that, "It is well known that the only 
 mill of this class in our country fully equipped 
 for spinning and weaving fine, long line yarns 
 (located at Fall River, Mass.) was after a great 
 outlay of capital and immense exertions to 
 operate at a profit, converted into a cotton 
 mill at a heavy loss, in consequence of an in- 
 sufficient home supply (of raw material), the 
 mill being precluded from using foreign stock 
 by a practically interdictive duty." 
 
 To a certain extent, this condition has been 
 improved, but the fibre still grown in this coun- 
 try is not adaptable for fine linen yarns or fabrics. 
 It has been proved that the finest flax can be 
 grown in this country, but it requires skilled 
 workers. Should the spinners of the United 
 States establish local industries of scutching 
 mills in localties where the farmers could find 
 a ready market for the straw that produces 
 standard fibre, machines would soon be avail- 
 able for handling large crops and our country 
 
66 The Linen Industry 
 
 could easily outstrip the supply of foreign 
 markets.* 
 
 Flax is cultivated for the fibre on a commer- 
 cial scale only in the eastern part of Michigan, 
 in the vicinity of Salem, Oregon, and near North- 
 field, Minnesota. Most of the flax used in the 
 manufacture of linen goods is imported from 
 European markets or from Canada. The 
 cheaper grades of flax fibre are used for carpet 
 yarns, for shoe thread, toweling, cordage, twine, 
 jute, burlaps, and baggings. In many of these 
 productions, hemp and jute are combined with 
 flax. There are one hundred and forty-one 
 factories in the United States for this kind of 
 manufacture; they employ about twenty thou- 
 sand men, which seems a small number in 
 comparison to three hundred thousand em- 
 ployed by the cotton manufacturers. The princi- 
 pal factories are located in Massachusetts, 
 New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New 
 Jersey, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. 
 
 There are fifteen establishments for the 
 manufacture of pure linen goods, with a capital 
 of aboutsixand one-quarter million dollars (1905). 
 
 United States statistics of imports from the 
 Census of igoif are as follows: 
 
 *See United States Report, No. 27 — C. R. Dodge, 
 tin 1902 the Department of Agriculture made its first official 
 report. 
 
The Linen Industry 67 
 
 Flax hackled, known as "dressed 
 
 line" 1,481 Ions. 
 
 I'^lax not hackled or dressed 5,096.83 
 
 Flax, tow \ ,888.06 " 
 
 Max, yarns i ,088,938.00 lbs. 
 
 Twines, threads, or cords com 
 
 posed of flax, hemp, or ramie, 
 
 of which these substances, or 
 
 eitherof them, is lhecomjK)und 
 
 material of chief value, in yarns 
 
 not finer than 5 lea to 335 
 
 lea 491,637.62 " 
 
 Total value of manufactured and 
 
 unmanufactured flax yarns and 
 
 linen goods imported $ 70,476,038.25 
 
 Flax Seed 
 
 From one of the minor industries of the 
 United States in 18 10, the cultivation of flax 
 for its chief product, linseed oil, has become one 
 of the largest. Linseed oil is used principally 
 for home consumption, while its one by-product, 
 lin-seed oil cake, is a chief article in the lists of 
 exports. 
 
 The crop of flax and the industry of oil-making 
 has been defined as a migratory product, because 
 with the development of the West the interests 
 in the crop have followed the farmmg interests 
 in new states and territories, designated by the 
 
68 The Linen Industry 
 
 North-western and South-western districts, the 
 former including the crops from North and 
 South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin; 
 the latter including Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, 
 Oklahoma, and Indian Territory. 
 
 Only two or three pecks of seed are sown 
 to the acre, yielding very coarse straw, but 
 large quantities of seed. There are two varieties 
 of seed — one small-grained, yielding from six- 
 teen to seventeen pounds of oil to the bushel — 
 the other, large-grained seed, which yields from 
 eighteen to twenty pounds to the bushel. 
 
 Linseed oil is the chief product of flax. Owing 
 to its drying properties, it is indispensable for 
 paints and varnishes, having no adulterant or 
 substitute except corn oil. Two operations 
 are used in the manufacture of the oil, one 
 termed the "old process," the other the "new"; 
 the former, by hydraulic pressure, the latter, 
 by a naphtha process. In the old process the 
 seed is first crushed between high-speed steel 
 rollers into a fine meal. The meal is then heated 
 in reservoirs either by injecting steam or the use 
 of steam-jacketed heaters. 
 
 "The meal is then drawn from the heaters into 
 
 cake formers, machines which compress it into a 
 
 . shape of just sufficient consistency to allow, by 
 
 careful handling, of its being folded in a woollen 
 
The T.incn Industry 69 
 
 cloth and placed in the press. Although the 
 press is universally taken as a uniform pro- 
 ductive unit, the presses in different mills may 
 really vary in productive capacity according to 
 the number of 'plates' they contain, each plate, 
 located one above the other in the press, simply 
 representing a separate compartment for the 
 reception and compression of the meal that has 
 been put into proper shape by the cake former. 
 These plates may range in number from six- 
 teen to twenty-six to the press, but since the 
 usual and average number is about twenty 
 plates to the press, it is obvious that the common 
 custom of estimating capacity by presses an- 
 swers all comprehensive purposes. The presses, 
 massive pieces of machinery, are arranged in 
 rows in 'batteries' of either five or six presses 
 each, and a force of three men is required for 
 each battery. Beginning at one end of a battery 
 the separate compartments of the first press 
 are filled with the slightly compressed meal, 
 powerful hydraulic pressure applied at once, 
 and so on with each press of the battery in 
 succession. The operation of emptying and 
 filling each press requires about ten minutes, 
 and hence it is apparent that in a battery of 
 six presses each press is under pressure for 
 an hour, the oil meanwhile flowing from the 
 
70 The Linen Industry 
 
 presses into tanks. At the expiration of that 
 time the hydrauHc pressure is taken off from 
 the press first filled, and now hardened oil 
 cakes removed from between the plates, the 
 press refilled with meal and the other presses 
 emptied and refilled in the same way in suc- 
 cession, and so on indefinitely. The oil is then 
 forced through filter presses for the purpose of 
 removing mucilaginous substances known as 
 'foots,' after which it is placed upon the mar- 
 ket as raw oil; or, after filtration, its drying 
 properties may be increased by boiling and the 
 simultaneous addition of litharge or other dryers, 
 in which case it is known to commerce as boiled 
 oil. Numerous brands of refined oil also re- 
 sult from various processes of refining." 
 
 The "new" process is a chemical one, the 
 oil being extracted from the seed by the action 
 of the volatile solvent, naphtha. As in the old 
 process the productive unit is the hydraulic 
 press. In this process the distinctive feature 
 is the percolator, a huge iron tank with a capac- 
 ity for holding about three thousand bushels 
 of seed. The flax-seed after having been crushed 
 into meal as in the old process, is dumped into 
 the percolators, and flooded with naphtha. The 
 naphtha having an affinity for the oil, extracts 
 
 ♦United States Report Flax-seed Production, 1902. 
 
The Linen Industry 71 
 
 it from the meal, and after the requisite length 
 of time is drawn off through a valve in the bottom 
 of the percolator, a common product of lin- 
 seed oil and naphtha. The naphtha is then 
 evaporated and condensed for further use, 
 and there is left the commercial product, lin- 
 seed oil. The "by-product" is a meal which 
 is dried and deodorized and used as a food for 
 cattle. 
 
 The entire crop of flax-seed for the year of 
 iQOo was estimated at 25,805,000 bushels; about 
 fifty per cent of this was grown in South 
 Dakota. The yield of oil from this amount is 
 also estimated at about 67,500,000 gallons, while 
 the product of oil cake is at least one thousand 
 million pounds. 
 
 The Great Lakes are the centres of the 
 product, which have Duluth, Superior, and Chi- 
 cago for their principal markets, largely owing 
 to their water facilities. 
 
 The oil cake is the chief product for exporta- 
 tion, but it has a limited demand in the United 
 States. It is considered a valuable food for 
 cattle and is largely consumed in the milk and 
 stock farms of Northern Europe. The princi- 
 pal ports of the export are those of the United 
 Kingdom, Denmark, Belgium, France, and 
 Germany. 
 
72 The Linen Industry 
 
 Some of the other products manufactured 
 from the oil are linoleum, oil cloth, oil silk, 
 printe.s' ink, and patent leather. 
 
 FLAX 
 
 The flax was in bloom; it had pretty little blue flowers 
 as delicate as the wings of a moth or even more so. The 
 sun shone and the showers nurtured it. 
 
 "People say I look exceedingly well," said the flax, "and 
 that I aril so fine and long that I shall make a beautiful 
 piece of linen. How fortunate I am! It makes mc so 
 happy; it is such a pleasant thing to know that something 
 can be made of me," 
 
 One day, some people came who took hold of the 
 flax and pulled it up by the roots; this was painful; then 
 it was placed near the fire, as if it were to be roasted. 
 ''We cannot expect to be always happy," said the flax, 
 "for by experiencing evil as well as good, we become 
 wise." It was steeped, roasted, and combed. At last 
 it was put on the spinning wheel. "Whir, whir," went the 
 wheels, so quickly that the flax could not collect its 
 thoughts. 
 
 "Well, I have been very happy and must be contented 
 with the past," and contented he remained until he was 
 ])ut on the loom, and became a beautiful piece of linen. 
 "Well, this is quite wonderful, I couki not imagine that 
 I should be so favored by fortune — after all I have 
 suffered, I am made something of at last, I am the luckiest 
 person in the world — so strong, so fine, and so white. I 
 have a great deal of attention every morning — the 
 makl turns me over and sprinkles me, and the clergy- 
 
The Linen Industry 73 
 
 man's wife noticed mc, and said 1 was tlie best piece of 
 linen in the whole parish. 1 cannot be happier than 1 
 am." 
 
 After some time the linen was made into garments. The 
 flax then said, "Now 1 shall be of some use in the world 
 as everyone ought to be — it is the only way to be happy." 
 
 Years passed and at last the linen was so worn it could 
 hardly hold together. At length they fell into tatters 
 and rags, and they were made into ])ulp and dried, and 
 found themselves beautiful while pajx'r. Well this was 
 a glorious surprise. The paper said, "I am now finer 
 than ever, I shall be written upon, and who can tell what 
 fine things 1 may have written upon me." The most 
 beautiful stories and poetry were written upon it. People 
 heard the stories and poetry, and it made them better 
 and wiser. "I never imagined anything like this," 
 said the paper, "when I was a little blue flower growing 
 in the fields. I supjiose now I shall be started upon 
 travels around the world." But the paper did not go on 
 travels, it was sent to the printer and all the words written 
 upon it were set up in type to make hundreds of books. 
 This was certainly the wisest plan, for if it had gone out 
 into the world, it would have been worn out before it had 
 gone very far. Then the ])a])er was tied with a bundle 
 with other ])apers and thrown into a tub that stood out 
 of the way. "After work it is well to rest," said the 
 paper. "What will Ije done witli me now — I shall go 
 forward." One day all the paper was taken from the 
 tub and placed on the heartli to be Ixirnt up. 
 
 'Ugh!" cried the paper, as it burnt into a bright ilame. 
 It was certainly not very pleasant to be burnt up, but the 
 flames mounted into the air, higher and higher than the 
 little flax plant had ever been, and they glistened as the 
 white linen had never glistened. 
 
 "Now I am mounting straight up to the sun," said a 
 voice in the flames, and the flames darted up through 
 
74 The Linen Industry 
 
 the chimney and out at the lop, and the httle voice said, 
 "The song is never ended, the most beautiful is to come." 
 — Translated from Hans Anderson 
 
 Other Fairy Tales 
 
 Flax Leavings. 
 
 The Lazy Spinner, 
 
 The Spindles, the Needle, the Shuttle. 
 
 The Three Spinning Fairies. 
 
 (See Grimm's P'airy Tales, translated by PauU and 
 Wheatley). 
 
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