Birds and All Nature, Vol 7, No. 3, March 1900 / Illustrated by Color Photography

by Various

The mummies of Egypt were swathed in linen, and much of this cloth is now in an excellent state of preservation although at least four thousand years have sped since its manufacture. While Joseph was in bondage cloth was woven which is still in existence.

There was once some question as to whether certain mummy cloth was of cotton or linen. But that has been definitely settled by the use of powerful lenses. The microscope shows that a fiber of cotton is flat and curly like a ribbon somewhat crinkled, and, like a fine ribbon, has a beautiful border which differs from the rest of the fiber. A fiber of flax has a glassy luster and is not flat like cotton, but rather like an extremely fine bamboo rod, cylindrical and jointed. When these facts were learned regarding the two fibers the cloth under suspicion was placed under the glass and showed unmistakably that it was round, transparent, and jointed. So there could no longer be any doubt that the ancient coverings of the dead in Egypt were all of linen with no mixture of cotton even when cotton was well-known.

The dead could not be buried in cerements of wool because there was a strict law against it, the wool being supposed to invite worms. The remarkable preservation of the cloth is largely due to the fact that it was well smeared with wax and asphaltum. But the fibers of flax resist decay to such an extent that in the ordinary process of preparing flax for spinning it is moistened and left exposed to such an extent that if it were as easy to decay as cotton it would become rotten before the time for spinning.

The earliest records of the business of preparing this useful fabric are those of the Egyptians as cut in stone on their ancient monuments. In their hieroglyphics and illustrations they have left us a complete representation of all their arts, and the processes of gathering flax, rotting off the bark and coatings of the fibers, cleaning the material by striking with clubs or whipping it against stones, straightening the fibers, twisting them into threads, and weaving cloth, are all beautifully pictured and described.

When William the Conqueror invaded England his wife Matilda made a record of the principal events of his life by embroidering upon a linen strip twenty inches wide and two hundred and fourteen feet long figures of the men, boats, animals, weapons, and other interesting objects, using woolen thread and depicting all with great clearness and accuracy. The Bishop of Odo assisted her husband at the battle of Hastings, and in remembrance of his kindness Matilda presented the work to the cathedral of Bayeaux. It is now preserved in the public library of that city.

Two hundred years ago there were spinning schools in Germany. The teacher sat with a wand in her hand and tapped the children near her when they lapsed into idleness, and when she noticed any of those at some distance from her not at work she rang a little bell for an attendant to enter and take the offenders out of the room for the purpose of punishment.

The old Dutch settlers in New York made what was called linsey-woolsey. This was a sort of cloth made with linen warp filled in with woolen woof. It was better than all-wool goods because it held its shape better and was stronger. This material was much worn by the early inhabitants of America, Abraham Lincoln being one of those who were well-satisfied with home-made garments of this fabric. Irving, in his "Knickerbocker's History of New York," claimed that some of the Dutchmen whose names ended in broeck were so-called because of some peculiarity pertaining to their breeches. For instance, Tenbroeck took his name from the rare distinction of his possessing and wearing at the same time ten pairs of linsey-woolsey breeches.

When people began to show their prosperity by purchasing cloth made up more beautifully than the product of the homestead loom they had to endure the remarks of others who affected to despise the man who was so extravagant as to care to dress in "store cloth." So recent is the use of this old-fashioned material that we find in one of Louisa Alcott's essays to girls the statement that "Modesty is as sweet in linsey-woolsey as in linen."

The greatest country in the world for the production of linen of the best quality is Ireland. Flax there reaches a height often exceeding two feet and the soil and climate seem to be the very best for maturing the fiber and manipulating it when gathered. In traveling through the country I saw a great deal of what at first glance seemed to be some sort of grain lying on the ground spoiling in the rain. I soon realized that this was flax and that it was left out on the ground purposely to give the pulp and bark a chance to rot away from the fiber.

Dew-retting is letting the flax lie in the heavy dews of Ireland till the work is done. Soil on which flax is raised is rapidly made poor unless the richness that is taken from it in the flax is restored to it in some way. Most of this richness is in the seed and the part of the stalk that is removed in the retting. Where this gets back to the soil there is little else to be added. Sometimes the flax is retted in small pools and the water saved to put upon the ground, though the flax is more discolored by this process than where the work is done in running water. Recently steam heat and vapor have been used to soften the stalks, and then the air pump draws the pulp away from the fiber, so that what once took several weeks to do is now done in a few hours. By the old process the fiber was sometimes left stacked dry for years with constant improvement in quality.