o. We cannot
do it as experts do, but still we can group them roughly into lots of
various kinds. We can get at it to-morrow. I will give you your first
lesson. I fancy your mother knows more about it than the rest of us for
she has always helped your father do this part of the work."

"It will be fun to learn!" cried Marie. "Won't it, Pierre?"

"I don't believe it will be very hard," sniffed Pierre. "There can't be
much choice in cocoons. Most of them look alike, except that some are
bigger than others."

Josef regarded the boy a moment and then laughed.

"Don't be too cock-sure of that!" he retorted ironically.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VII

THE SILK HARVEST

The Bretton family spent the next week collecting and sorting their
cocoons into baskets, grouping together as well as they were able those
that were to be kept for breeding; those that were soiled or imperfect;
and those that were double. They also separated the cocoons that were of
different colors, for among the lot were not only white ones but many
that were yellow, and even some of a greenish tint. This varied, Josef
explained, with the different species of silkworms. Before the silk was
reeled off the cocoons would, of course, go through another and more
thorough classification under the hands of the experts at the filature,
as the reeling factory was called. But even this first rough grouping
was a help to the buyers.

In the meantime some of the caterpillars that worked more slowly were
still busy with their spinning, and could not be disturbed. Accordingly
much care had to be taken in removing the cocoons that were finished.
Those in the lower tiers of arches were first taken out, and afterward
the ones higher up on the shelves. The sooner the cocoons could be
collected, after their completion, Josef said, the better, for within
ten days they depreciated from seven to eight per cent., and if sold in
bulk, brought a lower price. In consequence the Brettons, who were to
sell their crop to a silk merchant who visited the town each year,
promptly set about gathering their harvest as soon as possible.

Many of the cocoons were really beautiful, being of a perfect oval
outline and of pale golden color.

Marie and Pierre were delighted.

"It is worth all the endless trays of mulberry leaves, isn't it,
Mother?" exclaimed Marie. "Why, even Father could raise no finer or
larger cocoons, I am sure."

"We have done well," her mother agreed. "