"I hope so," returned Carl sincerely, and continued: "The first thing to do is to put the cloth into the machine and set it running."
Then, showing how to do this, he added:
"Now we start it up by switching this belt so" (moving the belt from the loose to the stationary pulley).
"What's the object in running cloth through here?" inquired Fred; for though he had always lived in Mapleton, yet in truth his knowledge of a woolen factory was very limited, and in this respect he did not differ much from the majority of the villagers.
"It is to make it weigh more, and to give it a body, so it can be finished," replied the boy, while he turned a basketful of flocks upon the revolving rollers between which the beaver cloth was now swiftly passing.
"But why do you call that stuff 'flocks'?" inquired Fred. "It looks like the fine dust that we find at the end of our pants and coats, where it settles down against the hems."
"Well, that's just what it is."
"I thought everybody called that shoddy."
"I know they do, and I used to do so myself before I came here."
"But what are the 'flocks' that we have here made of?"