fied. Most of them have
already been cured, or baked, for the majority of our customers do that
for us. When they do not we have to expose the cocoons in our own
ovens."

"Don't most of your cocoons come to you sorted?" questioned Pierre.

"Most of them are roughly classified," nodded Henri. "But the grading
must be much more finely done. Only experts can sort cocoons
thoroughly."

[Illustration: HE LED THE WAY INTO A LONG ROOM]

As he spoke he led the way into a long room, where on every hand girls
were moving in and out among heaps of cocoons that were either piled
high on tables or massed upon squares of canvas on the floor. The room
and everything in it was spotless.

"We try to keep the cocoons from getting soiled, you see," explained
Henri.

"Is the sorting done by girls?" questioned Pierre, astonished.

"Since the war, yes. We have had to train them to take the places of
those who have gone to be soldiers. It is not, of course, heavy work,
but it requires skill and judgment since the many varieties of cocoons
need different treatment. Here, for example, are dupions, or double
cocoons, which as you doubtless already know have more floss on the
outside than do others, and must be well cleaned before any attempt at
reeling can be made. Often they cannot be run off at all because the two
caterpillars that worked together to make the single cocoon have
intertwined the threads until they break all to bits when we try to
separate them. Here is another species of cocoon." Henri pointed to a
pile on the next table. "These are of beautiful texture, smooth and
satiny. But they must be treated with tepid, not hot, water, as are a
good proportion of the others, and the accumulation of gum mixed with
the filament must be soaked out with soap-suds. This will give you an
idea how many things there are to think of in reeling. Some cocoons give
off their silk too easily, and unless put into cool water will snarl;
others fail to give off the thread at all and instead must be treated
with hot water, which aids in loosening it. Another difficulty we
sometimes encounter is that the reelers cannot catch the end of the
thread to begin their work; this usually indicates that the water into
which the cocoons have been put is too cool. On the other hand if the
silk ruffs up and comes off in snarls upon the brush, the matted masses
indicate that the water is too hot. All this the reelers must learn by
experience, and they must lear