The heavy stiff piece is a linen canvas and is used by tailors for the interlining of cuffs and collars of coats. It costs 25 cents per yard and is 27 to 36 inches wide.
Suppose our chart is 24 × 20 inches. Perhaps a cardboard or cover of an old box will do if your teacher has nothing else. Put two holes near the top in the middle of the 20 inches side and run a cord through for hanging. At one edge down one side place the common linen materials with their names and uses, etc.
Let us see what the girls have brought. Here is a bottle of linseed oil. Yes, and some flax seeds. Jane has brought a linen collar. Here is a small china doll wrapped as a mummy. Marjorie's grandmother has sent some flax which she grew and prepared herself, and a piece of an old hand-woven towel which she made when a girl. And here is some hand-spun flax! Notice how rough it looks. We have, also, some cord and twine and some linen thread. Do you know that Paterson, New Jersey, where Marjorie's Cousin Ann works in the silk mill, is also a great center for linen thread manufacture? Thread is made by twisting fine yarns together. The twisting makes them strong. They are then dyed or bleached white. Much of our linen thread is unbleached in color. Why?
Suppose we draw a picture of the flax stalk and flower on our chart and fasten some of the school-grown flax to it. All the other things can be arranged and fastened too, by punching holes in the cardboard and tying them on with cord.
What an interesting story it makes. Perhaps the children of the lower classes would like to hear the story told by one of the seventh grade girls some morning.
Next lesson you may bring any table linen or towels which are stained; and we shall learn how to remove the stains.
EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS
1. Draw a picture of the flax plant, and color the flowers with your crayons.
2. Prepare the chart telling the story of flax.
3. Look up the story of how linen thread is prepared.
4. See how many linen materials you can find at home.