MOSAIC WOOL WORK 369 



numbered, and a corresponding system of numbers are put on the pattern. In many 

 of the rugs one hundred colours are employed. Tho selector of colours works under 

 tho guidance of a master, who was in this case a German gentleman, and to his 

 obliging and painstaking kindness we are much indebted. Without his very exact 

 description of every stage of the process, it would not have been easy to render 

 this rare mosaic-work intelligible to our readers. When all the coloured wools have 

 been selected, they are handed, with the patterns, to young women, who are termed 

 tho 'mistresses of a frame,' each one having under her charge three little girls. 



The ' frame ' consists of three iron stands, the two extreme ones being about 200 

 inches apart, and the other exactly in the middle. These stands are made of stout 

 cast iron, and may be said to consist of two bowed legs, with two cross pieces of iron, 

 one at the top of the legs, and tho other about fifteen inches below, the space between 

 them being tnat which is to be occupied by the threads of wool which are to form the 

 required square block of wool. These frames are united together by means of cast- 

 iron tubes, running from end to end. The observer is struck with the degree of 

 strength which ha* been given to these frames. It appears that, for the purpose of 

 raerefy holding together a few threads of wool, a much slighter frame might have been 

 employed ; and. we certainly were surprised when we were informed that, at first, 

 many frames were broken, and that they were compelled to have the stronger ones at 

 present in use. The cause of this will be obvious, when -we have proceeded a little 

 further with our description. At one end of these frames sits the ' mistress,' with a 

 stand before her, on which the pattern allotted to her is placed, and a vertical frame, 

 over which the long coloured worsteds are arranged. By the side of this young 

 woman sits a little girl, who receives each worsted from the mistress, and hands it to 

 ono of two children, who are on either side of the frame. 



Commencing at one corner of the pattern, a thread is selected of the required 

 colour, and handed to the first girl, who passes it to the second, whose duty it is to 

 fasten it to a stiff, but slight bar of steel, about half an inch in width, which passes 

 from the upper to the under bar of the frame. The third girl receives the thread, and 

 carries it to the lower end of the frame, and fastens it to a similar bar of steel at that 

 end. The length of each thread of worsted is rather more than 200 inches. It is 

 well known that twisted wool does not lie quite straight without some force is ap- 

 plied to it ; and of course the finished pattern would be incomplete, if all the threads 

 did not observe the truest parallelism to each other. To effect this, a stretching force 

 equal to four pounds is required to every thread. The child who carries the thread, 

 therefore, pulls the worsted with this degree of force, and fastens it over the steel bar. 

 Every block, forming a foot-square of rug-work, consists of fifty thousand threads ; 

 therefore, since every thread pulls upon the frame with a force equal to four pounds, 

 there is a direct strain to the extent of 250,000 pounds upon the frame. When this is 

 known, our surprise is no longer excited at the strength of the iron-work ; indeed, the 

 bars of hardened steel, set edgeways, were evidently bent by the force exerted. 



Thread after thread, in this way, the work proceeds, every tenth thread being 

 marked by having a piece of white thread tied to it. By this means, if the foreman, 

 when he examines the work, finds that an error has been committed, he is enabled to 

 have it corrected by removing only a few of the threads, instead of a great number, 

 which would have been the case if the system of marking had not been adopted. 



This work, requiring much care, does not proceed with much rapidity, and the 

 constant repetition of all the same motions through a long period would become ex- 

 ceedingly monotonous, especially as talking cannot be allowed, because the attention 

 would be withdrawn from the task in hand. Singing has therefore been encouraged, 

 and it is exceedingly pleasing to see so many young, happy, and healthy faces per- 

 forming a clean and easy task, in unison with some song, in which they all take a part- 

 Harmonious arrangements of colour are produced, under the cheerful influence of har- 

 monious sounds. Yorkshire has long been celebrated for its choristers, and some of 

 the voices wmch we heard in the room devoted to the construction of the wool- 

 mosaics bore evidence of this natural gift, and of a considerable degree of cultivation. 



The | block,' as it is called, is eventually completed. This, as we have already 

 stated, is about a foot square, and it is 200 inches long. Being bound, so as to pre- 

 vent the disturbance of any of the threads, the block is cut by means of a very sharp 

 knife into ten parts, so that each division will have a depth of about 20 inches. 

 Hearth-rugs are ordinarily about eight feet long, by about two feet wide, often, how- 

 ever, varying from these dimensions. Supposing, however, this to represent the usual 

 size, twelve blocks, from as many different frames, are placed in a box, with the threads 

 in a vertical position, so that, looking down upon the ends, we see the pattern. These 

 threads are merely sustained in their vertical order by their juxtaposition. Each box, 

 therefore, will contain 800,000 threads. The rug is now, so far as the construction of the 

 pattern is required, completed : and the cost of producing the ' block,' of 200 inches in 



VOL. III. B n 



