MACHINERY IN TEXTILES. 137 



chusetts ; in East Bridgewater, in 1786 ; in Beverly, 

 in 1787 ; in Providence, Rhode Island, in the same 

 year, and in Baltimore in 1789. From that time un- 

 til 1813, though there was great development and 

 progress made in carding and spinning by machinery, 

 the weaving had been altogether confined to hand 

 looms, and much the larger part of the carding and 

 spinning done in our country was upon the hand card 

 and spinning wheel. 



At the beginning of the present century substan- 

 tially all our textiles were made by hand labor, and 

 in the main continued to be so made during the next 

 twenty-five years. Throughout our country every farm 

 house possessed its loom and spinning wheels. From 

 the sheep reared upon the farm was the wool taken 

 and carded by our mothers, peady for spinning. The 

 flax grown upon the place was by our fathers broken 

 and hatcheled by hand, and made ready for the women 

 folk, who, day after day, week after week, month in 

 and month out, for fully or more than one half of the 

 year, were all constantly employed in carding, in spin- 

 ning, and in weaving the woolen and linen cloths that 

 clothed the family, or were traded at the store for tea, 

 and coffee, and sugar, or other necessaries or luxuries 

 of life. The household music of that time was the 

 hum of the large spinning wheel, that rose and fell as 

 the spinner receded or advanced, in concert with the 

 more steady flow of the tones of the flax wheel, as with 

 foot on treddle other members of the family, or women 

 servants, spun the flax which was changed to linen 

 yarn or thread. At the same time the constantly re- 

 peated rattle of the shuttle could be heard as the 



