in the young man who was with them.

"You are a slow guide, Mac, I fear," Mr. Munger laughed, laying a kindly
hand on his bookkeeper's shoulder. "That is the chief fault with you
Scotchmen--you are too thorough. Now let us hurry along. These gentlemen
must get back to Boston to-day, you know."

Mr. Munger bustled ahead, conducting his visitors across a bridge and
into the next mill.

Here was the carding room. Layers of wool entered the carding engine and
were combed by a multitude of wire teeth until all the fibers lay
parallel; the thin film of wool then passed into a cone-like opening and
came out later in a thick strand of untwisted fibers.

"It is now ready to go to the drawing-frames," Mr. Munger explained.
"You will notice how these drawing-frames pull the wool into shape for
twisting and spinning, drawing it out to uniform size and finally
winding it on bobbins. The machine is a complicated one to explain, but
you can watch and see what it does."

"How wonderful it is that machinery can do all this work," Mr. Clark
observed thoughtfully.

"Yes, it is," Mr. Munger agreed. "Years ago every part of the process
was done by hand. Little by little, however, machines have been
perfected until now we have contrivances that seem almost human. Shall
we go now and see the yarn spun?"

When they reached the spinning room with its clatter of shifting bobbins
Mr. Munger turned to Donald.

"I wonder if you know," he said, "that wool is worked into two different
kinds of yarn--worsted yarn and woolen yarn. The fibers for worsted yarn
are long and lie nearly parallel, and when woven result in a smooth
surface. Broadcloth is made from worsted yarn. Woolen yarn, on the
other hand, has its fibers lying in every direction and all these loose
ends, when woven, give a rough surface. Of course after the cloth is
milled it comes out smooth, but it is not as smooth and fine as a
worsted cloth."

"I think I understand," Donald said. "Are we to see the cloth woven
next?"

"Yes. You know we weave nothing but woolens; you must go to a worsted
mill to see the other kinds of cloth made. The processes, though, are
much alike."

Mr. Munger then hurried the party to the weaving mills, where amid an
uproar of thousands of moving wheels, bobbins, and shuttles the threads
of yarn traveled back and forth, back and forth, and came out of the
looms as cloth. The cloth was then steamed, pressed, and rolled or
folded.

"And now, young ma