WHAT WE GIRLS DO AT HOME
IN this town of Boston, if we do not know how to
make what is needed, then must we perforce go
without, because one cannot well afford to spend the time,
nor the money, required to send from Boston to
London for whatever may be desired, and wait until it
shall be brought across the sea.
[128] I wonder if it would interest any of you to know
what Susan and I are obliged to do in our homes during
each working clay of the week?
I can remember a time when we were put to it to
perform certain tasks within six days, and have set
down that which we did.
It was on a Monday that Susan and I hackled fifty
pounds of flax, and tired we were when the day was
come to an end. On Tuesday we carded tow, and on
Wednesday each spun a
skein of linen thread. On
Thursday we did the same
stint, and on Friday made
brooms of guinney wheat
straw. On Saturday we
spun twine out of the coarser
part of flax, which is called
tow, and of which I will tell
you later.
All this we did in a single
week, in addition to helping our mothers about the
house, and had no idea that we were working overly
hard.
And now about tow: when flax has been prepared
to that stage where it is to be hackled, the fibers
pulled out by the comb are yet further divided into
[129] cobweb-like threads, and laid carefully one above the
other as straight as may be. To these a certain yellow
substance sticks, which we call tow, and this can be
spun into coarse stuff for aprons and mats, or into
twine, which, by the way, is not very strong.
It would surprise you, when working flax, to see to
how small a bulb it may be reduced. What seems
like an enormous stack, before being made ready for
spinning, is lessened to such extent that you may
readily take it in both hands, and then comes the next
surprise, when you see how much cloth can be woven
out of so small an amount of threads.
As for myself, I am not any too fond of working;
amid the flax, save when it comes to spinning; but such
labor is greatest pleasure as compared with soap
making, which is to my mind the most disagreeable
and slovenly of all the housewife's duties.
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