ll
this hackling, even from a large mass of raw material, but it was
equally surprising to see how much linen thread could be made from this
small amount of fine flax. The fibres were sorted according to fineness;
this was called spreading and drawing. So then after over twenty
dexterous manipulations the flax was ready for the wheel, for
spinning,--the most dexterous process of all,--and was wrapped round the
spindle.

Seated at the small flax-wheel, the spinner placed her foot on the
treadle, and spun the fibre into a long, even thread. Hung on the wheel
was a small bone, wood, or earthenware cup, or a gourd-shell, filled
with water, in which the spinner moistened her fingers as she held the
twisting flax, which by the movement of the wheel was wound on bobbins.
When all were filled, the thread was wound off in knots and skeins on a
reel. A machine called a clock-reel counted the exact number of strands
in a knot, usually forty, and ticked when the requisite number had been
wound. Then the spinner would stop and tie the knot. A quaint old ballad
has the refrain:--

"And he kissed Mistress Polly when the clock-reel ticked."

That is, the lover seized the rare and propitious moments of Mistress
Polly's comparative leisure to kiss her.

Usually the knots or lays were of forty threads, and twenty lays made a
skein or slipping. The number varied, however, with locality. To spin
two skeins of linen thread was a good day's work; for it a spinner was
paid eight cents a day and "her keep."

These skeins of thread had to be bleached. They were laid in warm water
for four days, the water being frequently changed, and the skeins
constantly wrung out. Then they were washed in the brook till the water
came from them clear and pure. Then they were "bucked," that is,
bleached with ashes and hot water, in a bucking-tub, over and over
again, then laid in clear water for a week, and afterwards came a grand
seething, rinsing, beating, washing, drying, and winding on bobbins for
the loom. Sometimes the bleaching was done with slaked lime or with
buttermilk.

These were not the only bleaching operations the flax went through;
others will be detailed in the chapter on hand-weaving.

One lucrative product of flax should be mentioned--flaxseed. Flax was
pulled for spinning when the base of the stalk began to turn yellow,
which was usually the first of July. An old saying was, "June brings the
flax." For seed it stood till it was