"You see the gig is going so fast they don't get hold much, and then they are not strong enough to tear it at once, but will wear it out rather fast if too much pressure is put upon it. Those gigs out there don't hurt it much, though, for they use old handles and the teasels are broken down a good deal."
"Where are they used first, if they are old?"
"Up stairs on the dry gigs."
"What! Is it gigged up there, too?"
"Oh, yes; on two different gigs. Haven't you seen the great square iron framed machines with two cylinders and two men tending them?"
"No, I think not. I don't believe I have been into that room yet."
"Well, the cloth is gigged there on the big machines the first thing after it leaves the fulling mills and washers."
"How long do they run it up there?"
"They run it quite a while in all the different processes it goes through. After it is gigged the first time then it is cropped."
"Cropped, you say?" exclaimed Fred, laughing. "Well, you have me again, for I am sure I don't know what that means."